Cleanup continues after train derails near Campbell

CAMPBELL — U.S. Highway 62, west of Campbell, remained closed Tuesday afternoon as crews continued to remove rail cars, which had derailed during a thunderstorm a day earlier.

“There was a storm that went through there” Monday afternoon between 5 and 5:15 p.m., said Dunklin County Sheriff Bob Holder, who estimated about 17 cars or more derailed.

The wind, Holder said, caught the cars, some of which were empty and “just kind of blew them off the track,” causing the cars to derail.

“It’s my understanding, the engineer did not realize what happened (until) he had the warnings signs come across on his engine,” Holder explained.

The derailment, Holder said, occurred between Campbell and the Arkansas state line on a rail line running parallel to U.S. 62.

Crews, he said, arrived around 10 p.m. Monday night to begin the cleanup.

“There’s quite a group of them up there now,” Holder said at about 2 p.m. “They blew off the track, and they’re putting them back.”

No derailed cars landed on the highway, but it was shut down Monday night for emergency vehicles and hazardous materials crews working at the derailment site.

“There wasn’t anything to clean up,” Holder said.

The cars landed “close to a gas line, but it was OK,” Holder said. “There was some hazardous materials on it.

“That was quickly taken care of; (crews) didn’t have to do much to that.”

Calls to Union Pacific representatives were not returned by press time.