NELSON, Wis. – A driver took a wrong turn on the highway from Wabasha through Nelson and ended up stuck on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad‘s 79 mph route through town. A tanker train braked to a stop, screeching steel on steel past the stalled vehicle. Buffalo County deputies said such a bad turn, although inexcusable, was understandable after dark if a driver is drunk. The time was time about 8:50 p.m., and Samuel Horace III, 47, of Wabasha, was charged with drunken driving. Horace also was charged with driving without a valid license. Deputies said Horace was standing outside his car dumbfounded when they arrived. Other trans on the busy Chicago-to-West Coast mainline were halted both directions until the Horace sedan could be towed off the roadbed.
Less than a yard from total destruction. Driver missed crossbar track warning signs and turned onto tracks that parallel U.S. Highway 35. Image: Dunn County sheriff
Horace. Mistook tracks for a street.