Sioux Center, Iowa — A Hawarden man escaped serious injury after his car was struck by a train in Sioux Center early on Monday morning.
The Sioux Center Police Department reports that about 1:05 a.m. on Monday, November 4, 2019, 61-year-old David Vander Feen of Hawarden was driving a 2001 Chevy eastbound near the Sioux Center tree dump, behind B & B Salvage. The driveway for the dump runs north from Seventh Street Northwest, along the BNSF railroad tracks before turning west into the dump. Vander Feen was leaving the dump area, headed eastbound, when, according to the police report, he drove off the road and got stuck on the train tracks. According to the report, there was a train coming north through Sioux Center, and it was unable to stop in time and struck the car. But Vander Feen was able to exit the vehicle before the initial collision. After that, the car was pushed down the tracks and struck a railroad switch.
The Sioux Center Ambulance took Vander Feen to the Sioux Center Health Hospital.
Vander Feen’s Chevy sustained $10,000 in damages, which totaled the car. The BNSF locomotive sustained $1000 in damages, and the switch device sustained $5000 in damage.
