SPRINGDALE (KFSM)- Passengers on board an Arkansas & Missouri Railroad excursion train were bussed back to Springdale Wednesday (Nov. 26) after a broken rail between Rudy and Mountainburg stopped the train, according to A & M Railroad officials.
At about 3:50 p.m. a northbound excursion train with one locomotive and three excursion cars hit a piece of broken rail, which derailed one set of trucks on one car stopping the train in a remote area, according to a statement from Ron Sparks with A & M Railroad Police.
There were fewer than 30 passengers on the train, railroad officials said. The passengers were moved from the rear two excursion cars to the front excursion car and then were taken by train to Mountainburg where they met a bus that took them back to the depot in Springdale, according to Sparks.
Oscar Lopez was on board the train.
"The train was running for 20 minutes or 30, then something bumped on the bottom," he said. "Then they stopped to check it."
The train was heading back from Van Buren after departing from Springdale Wednesday morning. There were no injuries and the track is being fixed, Sparks said.
About a month earlier, on Oct. 16, a rescue engine ran head-on into an A & M Railroad excursion train south of West Fork, injuring 44 passengers. None of the injuries were life threatening. The train was also making the round trip from Springdale to Van Buren. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.
The A & M Railroad excursion trains make trips from Springdale to Van Buren and back and from Van Buren to Winslow and back several times each week.