ALBERT LEA, Minn. – Most of a 50-car Union Pacific freight train derailed along a marshy lakeside in north Albert Lea about 1:45 p.m. There were no early reports of injuries. The nearest streets with houses are a couples blocks away. One witness counted 28 cars jack-knifed on the single-track mainline just north of the small UP yard in town. Some cars went into Goose Lake, a 79-acre body that’s only two to three feet deep. The lake feeds eventually into the Cedar and Iowa rivers and then the Mississippi 260 miles away south of Muscatine Iowa. It was. not known immediately whether the train carried hazardous materials. Trains on the route, known as the old Rock Island Spine Line, often carry liquid petroleum, potash and hydrochloric acid. The train originated in Superior, Wisconsin. It was bound for Des Moines, Iowa.
Mushy landing. Some derailed cars sank into mushy wetlands on Goose Lake.
