Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990                   TAG: 9004240280
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BATAVIA, IOWA                                LENGTH: Medium

IOWA TRAIN DERAILMENT INJURES 83 PASSENGERS

Seven cars of the eastbound California Zephyr derailed about 1:25 p.m. CDT on Burlington Northern tracks, authorities said. Eyewitnesses counted as many as nine cars off the track.

"It made a hell of a noise and then all kind of dust started flying," said Robert Franklin of Batavia.

"It was just one big, loud bang. Kind of like a clankety, clang," said his wife, Patricia.

The train was carrying 394 passengers and about 20 crew members, said Debbie Hare, an Amtrak spokeswoman in Chicago.

Area hospitals reported receiving at least 83 people from the accident, 10 of whom were hurt seriously enough to be admitted.

Iowa State Patrol Lt. Ronald Moon said there were no known deaths.

The cars began to run off the track just before it reached a crossing on the southern edge of this town of 525 residents, 90 miles southeast of Des Moines.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and Burlington Northern were dispatched to the scene.

The train had 12 passenger cars, four baggage cars and three locomotives, said Sue Martin, an Amtrak spokeswoman in Washington.

Marci Larson, another Amtrak spokeswoman in Washington, said the last seven cars derailed: three remained upright, three were left leaning and one, a sleeper car, was turned on its side.

Amtrak officials said they did not know how fast the train was traveling when the cars left the tracks and that the train's "black box" would have to be examined. The train is authorized to travel as fast as 79 mph in the area, they said.

"The train just started shaking," Jasonna Gibson of Schenectady, N.Y., said. She said she was holding her baby, Tamu, when the train derailed.

"The baby fell. I tried to get him and a lady fell on me," Gibson said.

Paul Tray, 29, of Batavia, said workers were using a ladder to climb down into the tipped-over cars, searching for people who might be in the wreckage.