Grain train derails along highway 26

HOOPER - A grain train derailed along state Highway 26, west of the town of LaCrosse and east of Washtucna.

About four train cars derailed, spilling grain along the railroad tracks.

The exact time and date of the derailment remains unknown.

The Whitman County Sheriff's Office did not have a record of the incident at press time.

And a worker sitting in a white truck near the derailment site Saturday, May 14, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, there were five others near the tracks and the wreckage.

But a passerby Friday, May 13, offered his observations:

"I passed through there about 7:30 p.m.," Ed Schultheis said. "The train was still attached. Non-derailed cars were still attached.

"There were no people around, or railroad people looking at the wreck."

He said he saw the Union Pacific logo on the train cars.

But Union Pacific said they didn't have any information on the crash.

"I don't have anything about a Union Pacific derailment in that area and time-frame," a spokeswoman for the rail company said.

Attempts to contact other rail companies were unsuccessful at press time.

Meanwhile, Schulthesis passed by the derailment site again Sunday afternoon, May 15.

"At that time, there were a couple people who looked like they were working on the problem," he said. "They left about 8 to 10 railcars sitting there.

"They had the detached cars sitting on the rails. Ahead of that 3 or 4 more cars, the wheels were off the tracks."

No other information on the derailment, the cargo or its value, or crash details were available at press time.