On Feb. 23 at 9:57 p.m., Ogle County Sheriff's Deputies, along with the Oregon Fire and Police departments, responded to a report of a train derailment at the Pines Road rail crossing just west of Devil's Backbone Road.
The railway is owned by Illinois Railway and operated by Omni Track. Ninety-nine empty rail cars, with no locomotive attached, were being stored on the rail line between Gale Road and Oregon Trail Road. For an unknown reason the rail cars began to roll southeast towards Pines Rd where the unaccompanied cars struck a derailing device causing 17 of the 99 empty cars on the line to derail.
During the derailment one of the rail cars struck and damaged a Com Ed utility pole. Several of the cars came to a rest on Pines Road and in the north ditch area of the road.
No one was injured in the incident and Pines road was closed for most of the day on Feb. 24 while crews work to remove the rail cars from the scene.
