DATE: Saturday, May 3, 1997                 TAG: 9705030521

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: GAINESVILLE                       LENGTH:   26 lines

NORFOLK SOUTHERN FREIGHT TRAIN DERAILS

Several locomotives and cars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed Friday, spilling about 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the engine and a small amount of an unidentified flammable liquid, officials said.

A rail car crushed an outbuilding beside a service station and injured a man who was standing outside it, said Kevin McGee, a battalion chief for the Prince William County Fire Department.

The diesel spill was quickly contained and covered with a flame retardant, McGee said. Liquid was also leaking from a barrel inside an overturned boxcar and did not appear to present an immediate danger. There were no evacuations. The derailment occurred around 2:50 p.m., about 30 miles southwest of Washington. No commuter rail lines serving Washington's suburbs were affected, McGee said.

The Norfolk Southern train comprised 36 cars in addition to two or three locomotives and was traveling about 35 mph at the time of the accident, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Bob Auman.

The derailment may have been caused by a switching problem, officials said.

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