HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Damage from what has subsequently been identified as a small tornado halted CSX Transportation traffic on New Year’s Day in Hopkinsville, the second time in less than a month that a tornado has affected the railroad’s operations in the area.
WZTV in Nashville reports the damage, initially attributed to high winds, was determined to be the result of an EF-2 tornado with winds reaching 115 mph and a path 125 feet wide, according to the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. It was the strongest of six tornadoes detected in Kentucky on Saturday.
Photographer Jim Pearson reports the line was reopened in about three hours, with all but one of a group of damaged crossing signals restored to operations. Three trains, N015, I025, and G413, were halted before reaching the damage.
On Dec. 10, CSX train Q500 was derailed by an EF-4 tornado as it passed through Barnsley, Ky., about 25 miles south of Hopkinsville [see “News Photos: Train derailed by tornado …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 11, 2021]
