Train Cars Derail in Fullerton; No One Is Injured

Half a dozen cars of a freight train, some containing toxic and flammable liquids, derailed Sunday morning and toppled into a group of parked train cars, but there were no injuries or explosions, police said.

“We do consider it a close call because there are residences along those tracks,” said Fullerton Police Sgt. Hal Stevens. “It could have been a big problem for us.”

A westbound Santa Fe Railway freight train from Barstow was moving very slowly at about 7 a.m. when at least seven cars toppled off the track at Williamson Avenue and Chestnut Place, said Santa Fe spokesman Mike Martin. That portion of the track is in a staging area for trains, near where four tracks come fairly close together, he said.

The derailed box and tanker cars fell onto other train cars parked on an adjacent track, ending up at a 45-degree angle, Stevens said. A total of 19 cars were involved, Martin said.

The Los Angeles-bound train, with six locomotives and 69 cars, had slowed to drop off some cars in Fullerton so they could be picked up and taken to Orange County merchants, Martin said.

The cars had just been separated and the train was backing up when the derailment occurred, he said. The cause of the accident had not yet been established.

Of the cars that derailed, two contained flammable liquid gases such as butane or propane, Martin said, and one, marked “poisonous liquid,” contained chloronitrobenzene. A railway hazardous-materials squad sent to the scene determined that none of those cars were leaking, he said.

Of the two cars that were found to be leaking, one contained grain and another plastic pellets.

The derailment did not affect train traffic, since cars were able to reroute onto other tracks, Martin said.