WILLIAMS — The nose of a new van pointed toward the sky as it burst from the back of an upturned train car, one of many piled one over the other alike an accordion in a 167-car derailment Wednesday night near Williams.
A BNSF train with 20+ cars derailed overnight east of Williams.
Neighbors say they heard a terrible crashing sound just before 11:30 p.m. as at least 23 rail cars careened off the tracks. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) train appeared to be hauling vehicles as its cargo.
There was no indication Thursday of injuries from the wreck and officials still were working to determine why the train went off the tracks.
There also was no evidence of hazardous materials being spilled, said Jon Paxton, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department.
On Thursday morning, a BNSF Railway police officer was stationed by the nearest railroad crossing, keeping curious passers-by safely off of the tracks. Heavy equipment and cranes were being used throughout the day Thursday to remove the overturned train cars.
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“I heard a lot of weird noises at night, but I’m a couple miles up the road,” she Jan Larson, marveling at the wreckage and how close one of the homes of neighbors came to being crushed by an overturned train car.
Further up Pinetree Drive, a Christian youth camp, the West Branch of the Bill Rice Ranch, was getting ready to receive campers later this year. The camp opened in 2014 and visitors are used to hearing the train.
Thursday morning, however, none of the staff noticed the derailment until they saw images on the news.
“Almost nobody noticed until we pointed it out,” said Troy Carlson, the camp director.
He said campers often ask jokingly if the train is derailing when it’s particularly loud, but he never imagined he’d see wreckage right behind their property.
Over Carlson’s shoulder Thursday, a number of overturned cars were in view.
Carlson said he was glad there didn’t seem to be anything on fire or spilled.
It appears no private property was damaged by the derailment east of Williams, about 30 miles west of Flagstaff.
There was no immediate word Thursday from Texas-based BNSF Railway about the derailment.
