Train derailment closes Route 219 in Leeds

LEEDS — A portion of Route 219 was closed Friday morning after five boxcars went off the track at routes 219 and 106.

The cars were carrying chicken feed, according to Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Robert Kulat. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were aboard, he said. The cars did not overturn.

His department sent one inspector to the scene and Maine sent an inspector, Kulat said. No investigation is planned, he said.

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said it does not know what led to the derailment.

The office said a crane was on its way from Massachusetts to help pick the cars up.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

: Railroad workers struggle to get one of five cars back on the tracks at the Route 219 crossing in Leeds early Friday morning. Several crews, including ones from Guilford, Pan Am freight and Maine Department of Transportation, were wedging wooden blocks under the wheels and inching the car forward in a slow, but well practiced procedure. There have been several derailments at this crossing in the past few years.

: Railroad workers survey one of five cars that derailed at the Route 219 crossing in Leeds early Friday morning.

: Crews uncouple two of the five railroad cars that went off the track at the Route 219 crossing in Leeds on Friday morning.