A couple celebrating 50 years married and a young software developer were all killed in the Sept. 25 accident.
The cause of last month’s deadly Amtrak trail derailment in Montana, west of Joplin, has not yet been identified. The National Transportation Safety Board in Tuesday’s preliminary report on the Sept.25 accident that killed three and injured dozens more did not provide additional information about the cause, but confirmed the emergency brakes had been activated as the train was traveling between 75 and 78 mph, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. As of Tuesday, it was “still very early” in the probe, but the board is “looking at everything,” according to NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway. Georgia couple Margie and Don Vardahoe, who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a cross-country trip, and Zachariah Schneider, a 28-year-old software developer from Illinois, were reportedly in the observation car — which had wrap-around windows — when they were killed.
