BY STEPHEN L. HERMANN
Two railroad tank cars, each filled with 24,000 gallons of deadly anhydrous ammonia, were involved in a spectacular derailment in Benson, Arizona, at approximately 0930 hours on a Sunday morning. A precautionary evacuation was conducted, but no anhydrous ammonia was discharged, and the incident was eventually resolved without deaths or injuries.
The Benson Fire Department was on the scene within minutes of the 19-car derailment, which occurred in a light commercial and residential area of town. A string of cars not connected to a locomotive at the time apparently started running downhill from a nearby siding where they had been stored. The cause of the incident is still under investigation. The cars, traveling at an estimated 40 miles per hour, hit an automatic derailment device, a termination point on the tracks.
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