Grade crossing incident in Pittsfield ME 09-09-2013

Don Hallenbeck wrote:Good morning all, PARR had trouble here west of MP92 abt 1430 Hrs. EDT yesterday. A phone call was rec'd @ Somerset Regional Dispatch in Skowhegan, Me. from a resident of the Weeks Rd./Webb Rd. area of Pittsfield saying that he couldn't cross the tacks as the Xing was all torn(Tore???) up & there was some sort of white powder laying between the rails.. Pitts. PD went out & checked things out & sure enough the Xing was all torn up & an Unknown white powder was indeed laying between the rails.

The FD was called out as the PD didn't know what they were dealing with & the FD was the ones with all the Haz Mat know how. The train was eventually stopped at the Industrial Park Rd. Xing & somebody made to walk the train to see where this powder was coming from. It was coming from a car some 45 cars back. according to what I heard on the Scanner, the trucks on this car had departed from their assigned mounting position & had shifted cutting a hole in the car causing this powder to leak out. The material was ID'd as a class 1 hazard & could be safely washed down by the FD .

Now the real circus begins; The car is carefully moved to the Main St. Xing & work begins to repair the Xing that was damaged. As I came to the Library this morning about 1000 Hrs. EDT, there was powder in the gauge both sides of the Xing & trailing back west toward where this mess all started. This work was still going on when I went o bed about 2330 Hrs. EDT. Had to fix the Xing so the School buses could roll out there this morning to get the kids for school.

I hope somebody out there ha the rest of the story.