Bad Weather Causes Accident on Ulm Road

Tractor Trailer on track after the accident. (Rhoades photo)

On January 29, around 6 p.m., a GTZ Express tractor trailer failed to negotiate a sharp curve on the Ulm Road near Clearmont, near a marked railroad crossing. There is also a sign warning on coming drivers of the nearly 90-degree turn.

The driver appeared to have missed the curve, and kept traveling across the train track, where the tractor-trailer came to rest, blocking the track.

Clearmont residents Richard Rhoades and Merrilee Albers were traveling on Highway 14/16 from Buffalo, about a quarter mile from the accident, when the driver, who had walked to the highway, flagged them down. The cold temperatures that night would have created an extreme hazard for the driver, as well as the possibility of being struck by a train. Rhoades called 911, and waited with the driver while the tow truck was en-route. The 911 dispatch in turn alerted BNSF about the track being blocked.

The driver appeared unhurt, and after the truck was moved off the railroad track, the driver was taken to a nearby motel for the night. “He didn’t know where he was,” Rhoades said. “He wondered if he was in North or South Dakota.”

It was not known why the man was traveling on the Ulm Road, as it is a narrow, graveled county road used mainly by ranchers and local traffic.

BNSF could not immediately be reached for comment. If any updates occur they will be posted here.