(Salina, Kansas – July 29, 2012)
An eastbound Union Pacific coal train derailed at least 26 cars Sunday afternoon at about 2:35 P.M just west of Salina, KS., spilling thousands of tons of coal along trackside fields, forming a twisted mound of derailed cars, coal, ballast, rail and ties, and sparking a fire whose smoke could be seen for miles.
The tracks buckled, possibly from heat stress as a result of several days of 100 degree temperatures in central Kansas, after the locomotives had passed the point where the cars began to derail. The site was between the intersections of Muir Road and Cloud Street with West Old Highway 40.
Saline County Rural Fire District #3 responded to and extinguished the blaze before it could spread into a prairie fire.
Deputy Eric Appel of the Saline C0unty Sheriff’s Office reported that no injuries resulted from the wreck, and that UPRR officials had been notified of the situation.
