(The Associated Press circulated the following article on April 20.)
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — Railroad officials say a bad wheel bearing on a rail car is apparently what caused a coal train to jump the tracks in Mount Pleasant earlier this week.
Eleven cars on the BNSF train derailed Monday morning in the southeast Iowa town, dumping tons of coal in the right of way.
No one was hurt.
Rail spokesman Steve Forsberg says the 130-car train was hauling coal from Wyoming to a power plant near St. Louis. The derailment began with the 106th car, and a burned out wheel bearing is suspected.
The train wrecked fewer than 50 yards from an apartment complex.