1 Killed and 33 Injured as Train Pulling Railroad Buffs Derails

A Seattle-to-Chicago Amtrak train pulling railroad buffs in private cars derailed at a crossing Thursday, killing a crew member and injuring at least 33 people, officials said.

About 227 people were aboard the 15-car Empire Builder when it left the Soo Line tracks, Amtrak spokesman John Jacobsen said in Washington.

“We’re all shook up. We were all thrown around quite a bit,” said passenger Ginger Murray of St. Paul, Minn.

The train derailed while switching from one set of tracks to a parallel set, but the cause of the accident in this south-central Wisconsin village of about 850 people was not immediately known, Jacobsen said.

Officials did not know how fast the train was traveling.

The dead man was identified as Walter Day of Horicon, Wis. Day, a fireman, apparently was thrown from a locomotive as it tipped, an Amtrak spokesman in Milwaukee said.

Five cars that did not derail were private cars en route to a railroad convention in Milwaukee, said Pat Campion of St. Paul, Minn.

Campion said she is a member of the Minnesota Transportation Museum and that her car was added to the train Thursday morning in St. Paul.

“It makes me reconsider my hobby,” she said.

Thirty people were taken to Columbus Community Hospital, and four admitted, with one in serious condition, two in good condition and one in fair condition, said spokeswoman Marilyn Koshel.