Every so often the archives remind you how thin the line is between a normal Monday downtown and a very bad one.
On November 24, 2008, I wrote about a CSX train that was picking up cars from a side track here in downtown Opelika when the rail simply leaned over under it. Nothing rolled onto its side, and the crew got the train stopped in a hurry — which is the only reason it stayed a curiosity instead of a headline. RJ Corman Derailment Services rolled in from Atlanta with the big trucks to put things right.
What strikes me reading it now is the part I wondered about back then: that stretch of track had been left out of the big maintenance project on the main line, probably because traffic on it moves so slowly. Trains are still very much part of daily life in Opelika — you hear them from just about anywhere in town — and the side tracks are still doing quiet work every day.
Read the original post here: Train Derails in Downtown Opelika (November 24, 2008).
