The 1978 train derailment at Preston

The railroads that once crossed Bath County were safely operated and maintained for the most part. Very few incidents occurred along the C&O line in it’s years, but one particular incident gained national attention, causing a great deal of concern with local folks and emergency responders.

Residents of Preston were going about their usual routines the morning of Thursday, April 13, 1978. Eula and Arnold Miller were at their breakfast table around 6:30 a.m. and heard the eastbound freight train approaching the town’s crossing by Rube Blevins’ store. What the Miller’s saw and heard next would be the beginning of a harrowing twenty-four hour ordeal. A train hauling sixty-nine cars jumped the track at the crossing, scattering thirteen cars, debris and twisted rails all around. One empty coal car nearly plowed through a house down the street along the tracks. Mrs. Miller watched in awe as the cars crashed into each other. Neighbors began going door to door to check on each other, when suddenly, a crewman on the train ran up telling everyone that three cars were loaded with deadly hydrocyanic acid. Mike Cassidy, who lived near the tracks, alerted the fire department on his CB radio and ran up to the scene to see what he could do to help. When told that there were hazardous chemicals involved, he and a few others began evacuating people from the immediate area. According Eula Miller’s interview in the Bath County News Outlook’s April 20, 1978 edition, there was no panic as people began to move away from the accident location. Soon, the fire department and rescue squad were on location and with help from the sheriff’s department and Kentucky State Police, they began evacuating residents within a mile radius of the accident. The acid was being transported in three 11,000 gallon tanker cars, with one receiving a large dent from being sandwiched between other tanker cars; none of the three overturned thankfully. An evacuation center was located at the Owingsville Church of God and by 8:30 a.m., evacuees were starting to fill the church. About 300 people were evacuated to either the church or to other family members’ homes. In some cases, residents had just enough time to gather a handful of items before they had to leave, so most just had what clothes they were wearing and no other provisions. The church, schools, and local residents assisted the evacuees in their basic needs and provided meals; a true community wide effort.

The incident command post was established at a residence on Kendall Springs Road and by mid-afternoon, representatives from DuPont, the owner of the chemical tankers, had been flown into Preston. Preston had become the center of media attention and curious on-lookers. Several low-flying airplanes and helicopters surveyed the wreckage from above. Kentucky State Fire Marshall’s office representative, Carl Mastin, arrived on scene and presided over some of the operations during the incident, with the local fire department standing by. Vernon Barber organized the rescue squad to assist Sheriff Dan Swartz in keeping the radius secure and allowed only essential personnel into the scene’s perimeter until it was deemed safe. Once representatives from DuPont arrived, they indicated that the tankers were not leaking the deadly materials and the clean-up process began. Evacuated residents were allowed back home after a tense twenty-four hours. Chessie System representatives began moving the cars still on the tracks the following Monday, and by Tuesday, April 18, all of the wreckage had been cleared out from Preston. It is believed that the cause of the derailment was that the tracks had become unstable at the Preston crossing after so many years of train travel. Mike Cassidy stated during an interview with the Bath County News Outlook that he had seen the tracks sway up and down several times over the years. At the time of the accident, there was only one foreman and two rail hands that were tasked to maintain the tracks, most certainly an undaunting task for such a small crew. No one was injured during this incident, and other than the property owned by the railroad company, no homes or personal property was lost.

A previous accident in November 1976 near Stepstone had an environmental impact that could have contaminated Owingsville’s water supply, but this incident was the most dangerous rail accident for Bath County in the terms of the possible human impact. Preston recovered quickly and the rails were repaired; trains kept rolling down the C&O line until 1985. The rail line was abandoned and eventually the tracks were dismantled by the following year, bringing an end to the railroad era of Bath County.