(The following story appeared on the Houston Chronicle website on January 28.)
HOUSTON — Christie Limmer wipes tears away as Cameron Yoe classmate Brandon Kimbrel watches a freight train pass.
A historic passenger train on its way to Houston for Super Bowl festivities struck a pickup truck in Central Texas, killing two high school football players.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe train was crossing through rural Cameron on Tuesday when a pickup carrying Brian Reinders, 17, and Travis Mueck, 16, drove onto the tracks.
The collision occurred shortly after 5 p.m., as the sun began to set, Cameron police said. The two Cameron Yoe High School juniors were pronounced dead at the scene.
More than a dozen BNSF employees were aboard the two-engine, 15-car train, but none was injured.
Joe Faust, a regional spokesman for BNSF, said the vintage passenger train was to be part of an exhibition and private party in Houston. The party will go on, Faust said, but he did not say when it’s scheduled or who would attend.
Police would not say who was at fault. Faust said the collision appeared to have been caused by “driver inattention.”
The crossing, which is marked with signs, is the only one in Cameron without flashing lights warning of an oncoming train.
Cameron is about 50 miles south of Waco.