Cars jump track with minor disruption

A train derailment in Rossville held up traffic Tuesday and Wednesday, but residents say it mostly went unnoticed in the maze of railroad tracks and industrial buildings in the town.

"I knew those train cars weren't supposed to be looking like that, but it only blocked one road and I don't go down there anyways," Norma Hollingsworth said Wednesday while standing outside a dry cleaning business on Gordon Street.

She was just a few feet from where three Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway Co. cars derailed Tuesday afternoon, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The 13-car train was on its way from Chattanooga to Chickamauga, Ga., hauling carpet components, said Randall Magnussen, the railroad's general manager. Just two of the cars left the tracks and toppled over, he said.

"We're going to pump those empty so they are easier to lift," Mr. Magnussen said.

The derailment occurred at West Gordon Avenue in Rossville next to Rossville Boulevard, and the avenue was cleared by Wednesday afternoon.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear.

This derailment was far less severe than a weekend derailment at the foot of Lookout Mountain.

That train, spanning about 134 cars, sped off the tracks Friday and closed Cummings Highway for much of the weekend.

No one was injured in either mishap, and there were no toxic spills.

In Rossville, crews were busy Tuesday afternoon and most of Wednesday clearing the derailment.

By Wednesday afternoon, the work appeared mostly complete, and both lanes of traffic that crossed the tracks were passable again.

"It looks like they did a pretty good job getting it all cleaned up and everything," said Bettye Wilkerson, who was shopping Wednesday at the nearby Food Lion. "Can you imagine moving all those big cars once they fall over?"

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