Dateline: June 6, 2002

Cause of train collision still unknown 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Clean up continues this week at the site of a May 28 head-on collision between two Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) trains near Clarendon.

Officials still don’t know what happened to cause an eastbound coal train to be on the same stretch of single track as a westbound freight or intermodal train.

“That information isn’t known yet,” said BNSF spokesman Joe Faust. “The National Transportation Safety Board will make that final determination.”

Faust said it is very uncommon for trains to run head-on like they did last week.

The 116-car coal train weighed 15,843 tons, and the 77-car intermodal train weighed 5,546 tons. Faust said it’s not yet known how fast the trains were going but that they would not have been going more than 49 mph.

The coal train originated in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and was en route to Oklaunion, Texas. The intermodal train was traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to California. No hazardous materials were carried on the train, sources say.

All four locomotives, 22 coal cars, and three stacked cars derailed in the accident.

Galen D. Shelby of Lubbock was the engineer of the coal train and was killed. He was 61 years old.

Three other crewmembers, 57-year-old Bruce Patterson, 51-year-old Ronald Gordon, and 34-year-old Rodney Torres were injured in the accident and were improving this week, BNSF officials said. Patterson was trapped under a coal car and was freed by rescue personnel and citizens.

Local law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, Texas Department of Transportation employees, and citizens responded to the emergency. Personnel also responded from area towns.

Fire Departments from Hedley, Howardwick, Memphis, Groom, McLean, Panhandle, Pampa, Claude, White Deer, Wellington, and the Texas Forest Service in Canyon all rushed to the scene. John Morrow Drilling also helped carry water for the fire departments.

Department of Public Safety Troopers from the area were called in, and officers also responded from Armstrong County and Gray County sheriffs’ departments and assisted with controlling access to the scene. One Gray County deputy was made available to cover any other possible calls in Donley County.

Two vehicles from the local Associated Ambulance Authority transported train wreck victims, and the third was dispatched on an unrelated Code 3 call, leaving Donley County without an ambulance. EMS crews from Groom, Memphis, Claude, Amarillo, and McLean were dispatched to be on standby at the accident scene and to cover any other local calls.

The Donley County Sheriff’s Office requested part of the EMS help. The remainder was dispatched independently by the Amarillo Communications Center at Northwest Texas Hospital, which was monitoring the situation in Donley County via radio.

Westbound traffic on US 287 was diverted to one of the eastbound lanes for most of the day. Crews worked round the clock to reopen the railway. It was officially reopened at 5:45 a.m. the next day, and the first train came through shortly before 6 a.m.