Several tanker train cars derailed Saturday in Aberdeen near the end of South Alder and State streets , and railroad workers from Puget Sound & Pacific were on the scene Sunday morning to clear the tracks.
The three derailed train cars, which were all large cylindrical black tank cars, were empty at the time, said one railroad worker on the scene.
The derailment was around noon Saturday. The worker said he wasn’t sure what caused it, and said the cars were in the railroad’s maintenance area before it happened.
Another worker said the cars were probably arriving to or leaving from the Renewable Energy Group biodiesel plant at the Port of Grays Harbor in Hoquiam.
One car was almost completely perpendicular to the tracks, while the other two were still partially on two different tracks separated by about 20 feet. The area is a railroad siding used to stage trains and there are multiple sets of tracks. A worker said there were no known injuries.
An investigation on what caused the accident is ongoing, the workers said. By Sunday at around 7:30 a.m., workers were on the scene using cranes and other machinery to clear up the site.
The derailment took place a couple blocks from the west end of Aberdeen’s large homeless encampment on the Chehalis River, where people often walk across the tracks as they come and go from the camp.