Odd News
Runaway train ‘travels 40 miles without a driver’
The train
An investigation has been launched in India after a driverless goods train travelled more than 43 miles (70km) at high speeds before coming to a stop, reports have said.
No one was injured and a potentially major accident was averted after officials helped reduce the speed of the train by placing wooden blocks on the track in front of it, officials said.
The 53-wagon train was on its way to Punjab from Jammu in northwestern India on Sunday morning, when it stopped in Kathua to change crew, the BBC said.
When the driver and his assistant left the train, the handbrake wasn’t applied, and the train ran away down the sloping track, according to NDTV.
It reached an estimated speed of nearly 62mph (100kph) as it moved through about five stations before it was stopped.
Videos shared on social media showed the train, which was carrying chip stones, zooming past several stations at high speed.
Local officials told the Press Trust of India (PTI): “The train was stopped after a railway official placed wood blocks on the tracks to stop the train.
—Sky News
Odd News
Message in bottle floats from Canada to Ireland in 13 years
A message in a bottle launched by visitors to Newfoundland’s Bell Island was found washed up on an Irish beach nearly 13 years later, after apparently crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Kate Gay said she was walking a Dingle Peninsula beach this week when she spotted the wine bottle with a sheet of paper inside.
Gay showed the bottle to members of Creative Ireland NeartnaMacharaí during a meeting at her house that evening, and they broke the bottle open.
The note, written by a couple named Brad and Anita, was dated Sept. 12, 2012. The letter described the couple’s day trip to Bell Island.
There was a phone number on the letter, but there was no answer when group members tried to call.
The Maharees Heritage and Conservation group posted photos of the bottleto social media on Monday, and within an hour group members were messaging with Anita.
Group member Martha Farrell said Anita reported that she and Brad had married in 2016 and are still together to this day. -upi.com
Odd News
Woman earns world record for collection of 15,485 egg cups
A Spanish woman who has been collecting egg cups for over 50 years earned a Guinness World Record when her collection was tallied at 15,485 items.
María José Fuster recruited two witnesses to help her tally her collection at a community center in her hometown of Campo, Spain.
Fuster’s collection includes multiple patterns, colors, designs and even novelty cups bearing the images of characters including Superman, Betty Boop and Garfield.
Fuster maintains two blogs related to her hobby — one to catalog each piece, and one to list the names of the people who have donated egg cups to her collection.
Some of her most prized egg cups, about 1,143 of them, are currently on display at a local museum.
-upi.com
