An eastbound UP freight between South St. Paul and Altoona piled up approximately 30 cars at the bottom of Knapp hill around 4 pm, Sunday, January 12. they took out the 190th St. crossing, a block signal, and scattered cars along the right of way on a curve. My understanding is that UP claims a broken rail caused the wreck. No hazardous cars were involved. The track was re-opened to traffic by Tuesday afternoon, January 14, and the block signal that was located to the right of this photo was replaced with a new one just west at the next crossing. The freight car farm will likely exist until spring, and the crossing may be closed for a while since they used "snap track" to get the line re-opened.
