Train Derails in Texas, Sends Freight Cars into Backyards

A freight train derailment in the center of a small North Texas town sent freight cars smashing into a resident’s backyard.

The 9:30 a.m. Jan. 9 smashup in downtown Aubrey, Texas, involved a Union Pacific train of one locomotive and 13 freight cars. Seven freight cars overturned, but the others and the locomotive remained upright.

Aubrey City Administrator Mark Kaiser said there were no injuries or damage to any structures, but an empty freight car punched through a resident’s backyard fence by about 4 feet.

Union Pacific officials don’t know yet what caused the derailment, which closed the rail line between Fort Worth and McAlester, Oklahoma, until Jan. 10.