Three train cars on
the Norfolk-Southern line jumped the tracks early Thursday afternoon at the
North Jackson Blvd. grade-crossing.
No one was injured
in the derailment and none of the cars actually blocked the public roadway,
although North Jackson Blvd. and Wagner Road were closed to traffic until
sometime early this morning.
Fire Chief John
Jarka told the Chesterton Tribune that the derailment occurred around
1:30 p.m., when 20 to 25 empty flatbed coil haulers being pulled by a
westbound engine somehow became disconnected. Three of them jumped the
tracks entirely but remained canted upright along the embankment within the
railroad’s right-of-way, while the wheels of two more cars left the tracks,
Jarka said.
Jarka added that
the incident occurred at a switching juncture on the line.
Chesterton
firefighters did use a 10-pound dry chemical extinguisher to smother a small
fire which ignited beneath one of the derailed cars.
The CFD cleared the
scene at 1:50 p.m.
Chesterton Police
also responded to the scene but have not yet released a report on the
incident. As of deadline today, Norfolk-Southern had not replied to a query
from the Tribune.