Train Carrying Corn Has Massive Spill, Transforms Tracks Into a “Yellow Brick Road”

On a cold winter day in Crystal, Minnesota, Mike Parker noticed an unusual sight near his house. The neighboring train tracks were completely covered in golden kernels of corn as far as the eye could see. And best of all, this magical sight resembled the fantastical Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz.

After snapping a picture of the tracks, Parker naturally shared it on Twitter. Users there thought his photo was fake; after all, the spill was too clean and there were no wild animals enjoying this embarrassment of edible riches. But despite all the skeptics, it turns out Parker’s picture was totally real. The spill occurred on the Canadian Pacific rail line and stretched about 2,000 feet long. There’s speculation that the amount of corn lost to the tracks was about 900 bushels or about $3,500 worth of the grain.

It turns out that very few animals got to enjoy the bounty of corn kernels that awaited them. Railroad workers used a high-rail vacuum truck to suck up the spill and took the golden path with them.

Mike Parker noticed that a train had spilled a lot of corn as it traveled down the tracks. After posting it on Twitter, many people believed that the photo had to be fake. But other people went and saw the Yellow Brick Road for themselves.

h/t: [Twisted Sifter, TIME]

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Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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