A 32-car train derailment in Allen County has sparked a large grass fire near the town of Moran (muh-RAN), Kansas. Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Mark Davis says three train cars filled with ethylene, a flammable liquid, caught fire when the train slid-off the tracks. The fire is being fed by plastic pellets, which were carried in other train cars.
Davis says the derailment happened just after 4 o'clock this (MON) morning, about five miles south of Moran. Authorities have closed a 23-mile stretch of U-S Highway 59 from Moran -- south to the intersection of Kansas Highway 39, east of Chanute.