Train Derailment from the Pantagraph

From the Pantagraph.com

CHATSWORTH — Crews continue to clean up from Tuesday’s train derailment near Chatsworth in Livingston County. “They are working on it, but it’s not causing us any problems here in town,” said Mayor Richard Runyon. Around 2 p.m. Tuesday, a westbound Toledo Peoria & Western (TP&W) train derailed two miles east of town. Four cars derailed, Runyon said. One fell over while three others remained upright. Access into and out of Chatsworth was limited for about two hours and crews are still working on the tracks outside of town. The investigation is continuing, but Runyon said railroad officials think the hot temperatures this week had an impact. “The railroad people told me that because of the heat, the tracks have a tendency to buckle and will move up and down,” he said. “That’s happened before and it apparently happened again.” Temperatures were above 90 degrees earlier in the week. There were no injuries reported, Runyon said.   This wasn’t the first rail derailment, nor the worst, in Chatsworth. “For those of us that live here, we constantly are reminded about the one that kind of made us famous,” he said. “It’s part of our history and we recognize that during our anniversary celebrations.” In 1887, a TP&W passenger train on its way from Peoria to Niagara Falls derailed after crossing over a trestle damaged by fire. The Aug. 10 crash killed 85 of the 700 passengers. There also were derailments reported in 1951 and 2010. The accident in 2010 fell on the 123rd anniversary of the 1887 derailment and also was blamed on hot weather.