Sheriff: Train accident should serve as warning

ANNA, Ill. -- Union County Sheriff Jim Nash warned of railroad safety this week in light of an 8-year-old boy who lost part of his foot when run over by a train. Logan Shelton, 8, was playing with a group of boys his age around the Canadian National Illinois Central railroad tracks near Crowell Heights Loop rural area north of Anna, Ill., Tuesday night. As a northbound train began passed by, Logan grabbed for a boxcar's ladder and slipped, Nash said. The boys' foot got caught beneath the train and was run over, he said. He was taken to a local hospital and later transported to a St. Louis-area hospital Tuesday night, according to Nash. Logan would likely lose part of his foot, and maybe even his whole foot, Nash said. But his injuries could have been worse. "If he would have held on, he could have been slung around the box car and cut in half," he said. Nash said Logan's accident should serve as a warning to young people that trains and railroad tracks are not areas to play around.