PENDLETON (July 5, 2012)—Crews were hard at work Thursday cleaning up the mess left by the derailment of 43 rail cars loaded with coal Wednesday evening in the small Bell County town of Pendleton between Moody and Temple.
A spokesman said the site could be cleared by Thursday night.
The 43 cars of the BNSF train left the tracks Wednesday evening at the 1237 Spur in Pendleton.
No one was injured, but tons of coal spilled from the buckled, torn and folded cars.
The crew saw what the trooper described as a “hot spot,” indicating damage on the tracks, but was unable to stop the train in time to avoid it.
The coal was being shipped to the three-unit Fayette Power Project operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority in Halstead.
The disrupted delivery shouldn’t create a problem, though, because the plant has a 30-day supply of coal on hand, a spokesman said.
Two trains that were scheduled to travel on the track Thursday were rerouted because of the derailment, one through Teague and the other through Brownwood, the spokesman said.
