Western-Star.com

Six people were involved in two accidents caused by a runaway box car that broke free and rolled at high speed through downtown Mason Tuesday afternoon.

The box car finally derailed just before 5:30 p.m., south of Hageman Crossing in Union Twp. between Mason and Lebanon.

“Never in my career had I seen a runaway train,” said Mason Deputy Fire Chief Ray Mueller.

The Indiana & Ohio Railroad box car detached from three other box cars at Portion Pac in Mason, a condiments packaging company, and traveled north through Mason before derailing and spilling its load of lumber — a trek of about four miles.

The rail car crashed into vehicles at two intersections before derailing on a left curve about 250 yards short of U.S. 42 in Union Twp. at a three-railroad crossing unofficially called Hageman Crossing.

“We were lucky. It could have been a lot worse,” said Deerfield Twp. Fire Chief Bill Kramer. “It could have been carrying something toxic.”

Kramer said it was not clear how the box car became disengaged from the other cars and became mobile — without an engine.

“That’s a new one to me,” said Frank Young, director of the Warren County Department of Emergency Services.

Young said railroad employees said the box car’s brakes were set when it was docked at Portion Pac and that the brakes somehow failed and allowed the car to roll away.

It first struck a minivan driven by Michael Gill, 43, of Mason traveling east on Tylersville Road at the U.S. 42 intersection. Wife Stacey Gill, 37, and children Stephanie, 13, David, 11 and Eric, 8 were injured in the accident.

The adults suffered minor injuries, said Mason Police officer Sgt. Neil Garland, and the children were taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Only Eric was transported by Miami Valley Hospital CareFlight helicopter. He was listed in serious condition Wednesday afternoon. The other children were treated and released.

The box car then continued north and struck a sport utility vehicle near 520 W. Main St. in downtown Mason where Deerfield Twp. Fire Rescue responded. Deerfield Twp. Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Bromen said the driver, Robin Robinson, 33, of Mason was taken to Bethesda North Hospital and later released. No one else was in the vehicle.

“Usually there’s a large whistle that comes through, but not in this case — kaboom, that was it,” said Harold Dumford, a West Main resident who heard the crash from his home three doors from the site.

Without losing momentum, the box car made its way north on the I&O Railroad, following along U.S. 42. Kramer said the railroad company sent a switch engine to chase the flatbed in an attempt to bump into it, hook on and slow it to a stop.

Had it not derailed, Kramer said the flatbed would have reached Lebanon in five minutes but would likely have sped through because emergency crews of communities in harm’s way had blocked traffic flow into intersections.

Authorities on Wednesday said the investigation continues into what caused the flatbed to take motion.

“Accidents happen, gravity took over,” Kramer said at the derailment location. “There’s a gradual downward grade toward the north and that’s how it kept its momentum going.”