BNSF Confirms Minor 4 Car Derailment April 24th

 

DSCF7195Unique roadside land marks are a staple in rural America, but a railroad version of Stonehenge had some people in Beadle County wondering what happened to put four covered hoppers cars on their side along U-S Highway 281 between Wolsey and Tulare. Amy McBeth with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway says a westbound, 112-car train hauling grain and corn derailed on April 24th, sending the four cars, into a damp slough six miles north of the South Dakota Wheat Growers Wolsey Terminal. Some of the four cars gouged deep into the ground, digging up piles of dirt over five feet tall. McBeth says the cause of the derailment is under investigation and rail traffic on the line has resumed. As for the four destroyed covered hopper cars, McBeth says they will be cut up on site with mobile shearing equipment and removed. That will happen when crews have time and are available, so the rail cars may be in their final resting location for a few more weeks.