Features Editor

A broken industrial train track derailed a CSX engine and three tanker cars early Thursday morning in Brundidge, blocking North Main Street in the vicinity of the Piknik plant for about seven hours.

Ray Etheridge, CSX train manager, said the derailment occurred shortly before 7 a.m. and involved two cars that were loaded with soybean oil.

"The Montgomery to Dothan local train was making a switch at Piknik when the industrial track broke and derailed the engine and the cars," Etheridge said. "Two cars were loaded with soybean oil. Sometimes, when people see tanker cars derailed they get worried. But there was no danger here."

Etheridge said there was also no danger in the engine and cars toppling.

"The train was going about three miles per hour and it just slipped off the track," he said. "It was going too slow to go over."

The task before CSX was to get its train back on track and, to do so, it was necessary to lift the grounded engine and cars and put them back on the track.

Steel City out of Birmingham was called to rerail the train with its big crane capabilities.

The engine was lifted back on the track and proceeded to Dothan. The cars were shoved back on the industrial track at Piknik.

Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport said his officers responded to the call at 6:50 a.m. and were assisted in rerouting traffic by the State Highway Department.

"The accident occurred at about the time school was taking in and we had a large amount of traffic that had to be rerouted," Davenport said. "We appreciate the assistance of the highway department and the promptness of CSX in getting the train back on track and traffic flowing again."