The Nation - News from Nov. 28, 1988
Workers of the Union Pacific railroad finished repairing 2,000 feet of damaged track and reopened its main line through East Texas after a derailment believed caused by a tornado. The derailment of 45 cars during an intense thunderstorm near Fruitvale, Tex., forced the closure of the track, U.S. Highway 80 and Texas Highway 19 and forced 200 residents of the rural area to evacuate because of anhydrous ammonia fumes from a leaking tank car. Only two people were injured in the incident. John Bromley, a railroad spokesman in Omaha, said investigators believe a tornado hit the 89-car New Orleans-to-Ft. Worth train, pulled by two locomotives, in two different locations, causing the derailment.
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