Canadian National owns the train that derailed Monday (May 27) in tiny Potterville, 12 miles southwest of Lansing, spewing propane and forcing the evacuation of 2,200 residents.

The company operates in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and parts of Illinois under the name Grand Trunk Western Railroad, which has had at least 24 derailments in those states from 2000 through February, according to data kept by the Federal Railroad Administration.

In the Oakland County incident, two railroad workers died Nov. 15 and two others were trapped for hours in fiery wreckage on a rural strip of track in Springfield Township. Engineer Thomas Landris, 49, of Durand and conductor Gary Chase, 58, of Owosso were killed when their train collided with another. The other railroad workers were hospitalized with burns.

Nevertheless, CN spokesman Ian Thomson said Tuesday (May 28) the company's safety record is "at the head of the pack" in the industry.

"That's something we work very hard to obtain," Thomson said. "It's something you have to work on every day. If you operate safely you have a good business. That's what we try to do. We have two derailments every million train miles."

On Tuesday, a small shopping center parking lot in Potterville became a command center and the scene of orchestrated chaos one day after 35 of 58 cars on a CN freight train bound from Toronto to Chicago derailed. Eleven of the derailed cars contained hazardous materials, including nine that were loaded with 34,000 gallons of liquid propane gas each and two with sulfuric acid.

If somehow ignited, which authorities said could happen with little provocation, the propane-laden cars would have exploded with the force of a "bomb being dropped on a subdivision," said Eaton County Sheriff Rick Jones.

On Tuesday, police and sheriff's vehicles swarmed the small parking lot, where Salvation Army workers served drinks and sandwiches, and weary firefighters sat nearby. Residents arrived, anxious to glean the latest news.

Several sheriff's deputies tended a chart listing names of about 150 residents who were hoping to be escorted to their homes for supplies or to check on pets. As each family was briefly taken home in a sheriff's car, the names were crossed off. Some families whose homes were too close to the accident were not allowed to go home.

The officers were surrounded by small groups of people wearing the same clothes they had on Monday when, in the midst of Memorial Day barbecues, picnics and yard work, they were told to evacuate immediately.

The bedraggled family members mainly asked one question: When can we go home?

Answers were neither clear nor easy Tuesday.

Thomson said it might take several days to clear the tracks and determine the cause of the accident. About 75 train company employees and contractors worked to clear the wreck.

"We're still trying to get access to the full site," Thomson added.

The propane in one car was being burned off, using a 1,000-foot hose and what Jones said looked like a "giant Bunsen burner" that shot a 20-foot flame into the air.

One propane-filled car was leaking and two other cars were damaged. The propane in three other cars was being pumped into tanker trucks. The two damaged cars were to be removed by truck.

The train was one of about 30 that pass over that section of track daily, Thomson said. Two men, whom Thomson declined to name, were at the controls.

The National Transportation Safety Board declined to investigate the accident, said Cy Gura of the board's Midwest regional office near Chicago. Gura said the agency does not investigate every accident.

In the meantime, Potterville schools were canceled Tuesday and today. Families remained housed in motels in nearby Charlotte and in homes of friends and families.

"We grabbed a Tupperware bowl full of dog food; we grabbed two or three jars of food for the baby," said Doug Fish, 28, who lives on Main Street, about 300 yards from the derailment. He, his wife and son went to their in-laws' home in Lansing.

Most severely affected were families living in Independence Commons, a mobile home park adjacent to the tracks. Several residents heard, saw or smelled the accident about 12:15 p.m.

Lindsey Wilcox, 19, was on her front porch, which faces the tracks, when the accident occurred. Wilcox said she saw a car jump off the tracks and turn over.

"It was really loud. . . . I didn't know what was in it until I started to smell the stuff. It smelled really, really bad. . . . I was having trouble breathing, it was so bad."

On Tuesday, Wilcox was at the Comfort Inn in Charlotte with her 10-month-old son Dakota, her mother and her mother-in-law. She said she spent about $200 at the Wal-Mart in Charlotte, a favorite destination for the displaced residents. She wanted to go back to her home for her son's medicine, but she was not allowed, she said.

Back at the command center, at least one man was trying to make the best of the crisis. He was easily identified in his chicken hat.

Joe Bristol, 31, was pushing Potterville's Gizzard Fest, which celebrates the town's claim to fame: chicken gizzards. Scheduled June 15, the festival draws thousands of people and features, along with a car and tractor show and other activities, a gizzard-eating contest.

Since there were no injuries, Bristol figured the publicity for the Gizzard Fest would help "put a positive spin" on Potterville.