Mattress in train car ignites at rail museum

A mattress inside a railroad car stored near Route 10 and Parsippany Road caught fire late Tuesday evening, causing no injuries but eliciting suspicions that a homeless person had taken shelter inside.

At about 10:45 p.m., Hanover police and the Whippany Fire Department responded to a report of a fire inside a passenger car -- one of about a dozen railroad cars parked at the site of the Whippany Railway Museum.

Whippany Fire Chief Joseph Cortright said there were no flames when they arrived at the scene, but smoke was coming out of one of the cars, where firefighters found a smoldering mattress.