Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Train Wreck Injures Two In Gurdon

Two people were injured Friday afternoon when two trains collided near Gurdon.

According to Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith, the accident occurred around 3:30 p.m.

Reports from Union Pacific officials state the collision occurred when a train from Texarkana, on its way to Little Rock, ran into the rear of another train.

The derailment, which was south of Gurdon, blocked two stretches of track until early Saturday when crews were able to clear the rails.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

According to Mark Davis, a spokesman for UP, a Houston-to-Little Rock train was stopped on the track when it was hit by the train heading north at 22 miles per hour.

Before the collision, the engineer and conductor of the Texarkana-to-Little Rock train jumped. The two suffered bruises and cuts. They were treated at Arkadelphia's Baptist Medical Center.

One of the two engines was completely destroyed in the crash. Two empty cars on the Houston-to-Little Rock run were knocked off the tracks, with one of these cars smashing into an oncoming train on a side track headed south from Indianapolis to Fort Worth, Texas.

This caused three cars on the Indianapolis-to-Fort Worth train to jump the track as well. These three cars were loaded with new automobiles.

Smith said this is the sixth train accident to occur in the Gurdon area in the past year.