Sad tale. Two were killed when teens playing a game called “Ghost Train” involving parking their Jeep on the Union Pacific mainline were unable to start the Jeep as the southbound Amtrak Texas Eagle approached early today near Poplar Bluff, Mo., en route to Little Rock. The train hit the Jeep. A third teen was hospitalized with serious injuries. Two escaped.
The object of the game was to sit on the tracks, let windows fog and imagine scary things. It’s related to a local legend about a long-ago train derailment.
None of the 188 passengers or crew of 12 on the train were hurt. The engineer was identified by the St. Louis Today article linked here as a Little Rock resident.
The train arrived and departed Little Rock about 3.5 hours behind schedule this morning, according to the Amtrak website.