Officials investigating the movement of two parked locomotives onto a main track in the path of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals through Minot say the culprits likely are vandals and not terrorists.

"It appears to me to be more of an act of just stupidity," Minot Police Sgt. Dave Goodman said Thursday. "It just seems to be somebody who did this not realizing what the outcome could have been. I don't see any signs that this is some act of terrorism."

Police say someone moved the two hooked-together Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives from a side rail to the main track - a distance of about a city block - in a residential area of Minot in the early morning hours Sunday.

A couple of hours later, a freight train carrying anhydrous ammonia and other hazardous material came through. Anhydrous ammonia is a common farm fertilizer in the Upper Midwest, often hauled by train.

The freight train engineer applied emergency brakes and stopped 100 feet short of a collision, police said. CP Rail estimated the distance at closer to 400 feet.

Minot was the site of a CP Railway derailment in January 2002 that sent a cloud of anhydrous over the city. One man died trying to avoid the fumes and thousands reported health problems. It led to a protracted legal battle that still lingers in the courts. Goodman and CP Rail spokesman Jeff Johnson said they see no connection between that incident and the one last weekend.

"It's just coincidence," Johnson said.

Goodman, who was shown the basics of how a locomotive works, said he believes whoever moved them had a limited knowledge of how to do so.

"Maybe they saw someone do it before, whether it be a friend who used to work on the railroad … or a relative," he said.

Goodman said it is possible a railroad worker or former employee might have moved the locomotives.

"The only thing that bothers me about that is, the way the train was put into motion was done obviously by somebody that didn't know exactly what to do," he said. "Whoever did this did not disengage the brakes, so they had to throttle it down harder than if the brakes had been disengaged."

Goodman said CP Rail also reported some damage to the switch area between the side rail and the main track, an indication the locomotives might have been forced somehow onto the main track.

Johnson declined to say whether the railroad suspects an employee or former employee. "That's still part of the investigation, as far as … how they were able to operate the locomotive," he said.

Authorities were not exactly sure how much hazardous material was on the freight train that narrowly avoided a collision.

The railroad said it is taking steps to prevent another such incident. Johnson declined to elaborate, citing the need to keep the railroad's security procedures secret. But he said, "We take this very seriously."

Goodman said whoever is responsible for the incident will face felony charges of tampering with railroad property and reckless endangerment when they are caught.