Published: April 18, 2008 12:33 pm            

FRIDAY: Metal object placed on tracks could have caused derailment. (12:33 p.m.)

City police are investigating an apparent case of railroad interference that could have led to a derailment on the tracks near the Vine Street crossing.

Falls Road Railroad Superintendent Christian Henrici reported Wednesday evening that sometime between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., someone placed a large metal object between the gauge of the rail about 300 feet west of the Vine Street crossing.

A train approaching westbound was able to stop in time before hitting the object, and the crew was able to remove it from the tracks, the report said.

Henrici said the crew reported the item would have been capable of derailing the train.

The item had not been there during the train’s eastbound morning trip, the report said.

Lockport Police Officer Paul Beakman, also the chief special agent for the Falls Road Railroad Company, responded to the scene to investigate.

The metal object was described as two metal disks, each about 12 inches in diameter and two inches thick, attached by a 15-inch steel beam, the report said. It weighed about 200 pounds.

Beakman said the item may have been taken from an old signal tower.

“It was huge,” he said. “It was so big and heavy that it took both the engineer and the conductor to get it off the tracks.”

The railroad company secured the item in the railyard on Park Avenue, the report said.

Anyone found to have placed the item on the tracks would be charged with unlawful interference with a railroad train, a felony under New York state law.

“This was really something that’s absolutely foolish to do. You’re jeopardizing a lot of people’s lives,” Beakman said. “We’re talking about trains that are carrying ethanol, carrying highly flammable products. It could have been a real mess. If I find out who did it, we’re definitely going to prosecute.”

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

        

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