TODAY ON THE UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE REPORT.

This riverbank isn't wide enough for both of us.  "A collision between a BNSF Railway train and a barge sent coal hoppers and diesel fuel into the Mississippi River on Saturday night, the Burlington Hawk Eye reported. The barge was parked along the shore of the river in a position that left the nose of the barge extending over the adjacent railroad tracks." Two freight cars went in the drink.

That's not the first time a barge barged onto the tracks.

Unlikely as a train-barge collision sounds, it does have a historical precedent. Burlington’s Mark Twain Zephyr derailed after striking a barge near Keokuk, Iowa on Nov. 16, 1951, as reported in the book “Mark Twain Zephyr: History, Restoration and Rebirth,” by Kandace and Robert Tabern with John Kelly and Dave Lotz. The prow of the barge had extended over the tracks. Less than a year later, on Aug. 19, 1951, the train narrowly avoided another such collision at almost the same spot, this time stopping short of the intruding barge.

I wonder if it's worth the railroad's while to install bollards at such places.