The lead train engine, seen buried under the rubble of intermodal cars, has been uprighted and sits among the the tracks.

MILFORD — Crews continue to clean up the carnage left behind by a train derailment Wednesday evening, May 2, just east of CR 300W. Work, including roadways, is taking place on farmland owned by Don Fervida, Nappanee.

A large pile of railcar wheels, both engines, and torn open intermodal containers and old railroad ties can be seen in the field, as track crews work on the tracks. Work, being overseen by the Indiana Department of Environmental management, is also taking place to clean-up the diesel fuel that leaked. This clean up is expected to continue through the end of the week.

CSX Corporation Communications report the items left at the scene will be salvaged for scrap.

Daylight hours Thursday allowed a clearer view of the carnage caused when the westbound CSX train derailed just east of CR 300W, north of CR 1350N and west of Milford. The derailment, in Kosciusko County and just south of the Elkhart/Kosciusko County line, was reported at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Wheels, axles, rail car frames are among the debris stacked and ready for salvage.

CSX Corporate Communications officials stated they determined two locomotive and eight railcars carrying 32 intermodal containers derailed. “No hazardous materials were involved.”

The two crew members in the lead engine were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and were later released.

“While the cause of this incident is under investigation, it appears that severe weather may have been a factor …” corporate officials stated.

Kosciusko County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock was called to the scene due to the hazardous materials contained in train engines — hot fluids in the radiator, lube oil for the diesel engine, storage batteries with sulfuric acid and up to 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel per unit. Rock stated he was advised all other cars were empty.

According to Rock, the two CSX employees in the train’s lead engine were assisted out of the engine by Nappanee Fire Department.

Workers with RJ Corman Railroad Services and Beer and Slabaugh Inc., were at the scene around 7 a.m. preparing heavy equipment to untangle and remove the carnage. Additionally, SunPro Services, with a location in Elkhart, was on scene to handle the remediation (clean up) process.

This is the second engine that could not be seen among the rubble until other railcars and intermodal containers were removed.

Initial report from CSX officials at the scene, early Thursday morning, was the derailment may have been caused by straightline winds.

The tracks were reopened to train traffic Friday.

Throughout Thursday, CR 300W and CR 200W (CR 15 and CR 17 in Elkhart County) between CR 1350N and US 6 were closed to all traffic. Currently traffic, north of the railroad tracks, is limited to one lane.

Nappanee Fire Department received the initial call as CSX officials list the crossing as being in Nappanee. Milford Fire Department was called in to relieve Nappanee firefighters around 3 a.m. and remained at the scene for several hours.