Trains Of Thought

Reading the news breaking about 3pm that a train had derailed in nearby Amherst, the baby and I resolved to have a closer look at the unusual situation. The plan was to bike in along the Norwottuck rail trail which runs alongside the section of track where the calamity had occurred.

But getting to the trail entrance closest to us, we found the fuzz had already taken steps to quash the satisfaction of curiosity that we were seeking.

We waited for the officer to leave, and persuaded ourselves that the yellow tape was really for holding less intrepid investigators at bay. We mounted up, ducked the tape, and rode.

About a mile in we could see through the trees the beginnings of the stricken train. It was already about 3 hours or so since the wreck happened and the engine was gone. But several cars in, each successive car began to look like it was sitting on the tracks a little more askew.

Just further on, we got to where both the trail and the tracks crossed Station Road in Amherst and sure enough, there it was.

As advertised. The officer standing nearby greeted us with "There's something you don't see every day!"

No, indeed. No we don't. About 4 or five cars right near the road were really blotto-ed, and dug pretty good to the street where tons of moving steel had plowed into the relatively soft asphalt; probably made all the more pliant by the mini heat wave of the past couple days.

Crews were on the scene, but apparently waiting for the inspectors and crash investigators to do their work.

We watched across the bog as a handful of hard-hatted, clipboard toting officials were combing over the train and track; from the first car to several hundred yards behind the last car.

We saw them take a particular interest in a couple sections of track,

...and we wondered what they found.

Well, I wondered what they found. About an hour or so had gone by and my sidekick had just about lost interest in giant tottering trains, road blocks and investigations, and was becoming more and more persuasive about heading back home for some dinner.

Time to go. We'll have to read about this in the papers...