(The Associated Press circulated the following story on August 19.)
NORTH PLATTE — A switch failure caused two Union Pacific locomotives to derail inside the nation’s largest rail yard.
It happened Monday night when a switch failed to divert one of the engines in a different direction, sending the two locomotives into the side of a box car, UP spokesman Mark Davis said.
About 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from one of the locomotives after it fell on its side in Bailey Yards, he said. Two vacuum trucks were able to recover about 3,000 gallons of the fuel.
The other engine apparently did not spill its fuel, Davis said.
The two locomotives involved were remote controlled engines, but Davis said he did not believe that contributed to the derailment.