Shortly before noon today, Sheriff’s Dispatch received a call from Union Pacific that two trains had collided on the UP track where it crosses Mirror Lake Road, about a half-mile west of Bonners Ferry. The two trains collided head-on at an estimated 17 miles-per-hour, injuring one crewman on board. One train carried grain and the other was pulling empty log cars. Both trains remained fully on the tracks and no cargo or fuel was spilled.
Mirror Lake Road will continue to be blocked by the trains on the tracks until Union Pacific is done investigating the mishap. Access from the south on Pine Island Road and access from the north from Riverside Road are unimpeded.
North Bench Fire was dispatched to the scene along with mutual aid from Boundary Ambulance, South Boundary Fire, Paradise Valley Fire, and Boundary County Emergency Management.
The train with empty lumber cars was most likely being pulled by locomotive 1203 which is a smaller unit than the normal locomotives run by Union Pacific. With empty lumber cars he would have been going northbound. That train goes by our house daily and is usually moving well beyond 17 mph. And the locomotive is often running backwards.