Locomotive Lawsuit

The train excursions operated by the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad resumed not long after they were derailed Oct. 16, when the southbound train stalled near Brentwood and was hit head-on by the northbound engine sent to rescue it.

The excursions to Van Buren were back up and running within a week, but all 45 people involved in the accident — 39 passengers and six crewmen — were sent to the hospital as either a precaution or for actual treatment.

Two of those people, a Rogers resident and a Lowell resident, filed suit in Washington County Circuit Court seeking, among other things, compensation for medical bills, both present and future. One plaintiff reportedly suffered a foot injury while another sustained a concussion.

They are well within their rights to file a lawsuit. The railroad should pay all the expenses of all the people who were injured on that train. Whispers only hopes that the court action is a good-faith effort to secure a fair settlement for medical bills rather than an attempt to gouge the railroad for a pile of cash.