A friend sent me this story of a train fire in my native state of Kansas. It succeeded in distracting me for several hours.
The 2002 incident apparently was carried by only two local news outlets but otherwise did not generate any widespread interest.
Here is the Snopes link to the story. Snopes also has this string of comments that include some expert observations and has a much clearer set of photos. These comments from 2002 reflect that the original story, like most from the middle of nowhere, was of only local interest
The modified story began appearing in 2009, and just proves the rule that “facts just get in the way of a good story”.
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