(The following article was posted on the Bangor Daily News website on April 3.)
BANGOR, Maine — A train carrying rolls of paper derailed Sunday near the intersection of Hogan Road and State Street. Two of the cars ended up in the Penobscot River, and a third came to rest on its side on the riverbank.
The Maine Central Railroad train was carrying large rolls of paper from the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill in Old Town, which was shut down March 16. The mill is continuing to empty its warehouses of paper stock as part of the closure process.
No hazardous materials were on board and no one was injured when the train jumped from its tracks around 11:30 a.m.
“They actually derailed several cars back and rode on top of the ties before it jumped off,” Sgt. Tim Falvey of the railroad police said Sunday.
No cause had been determined Sunday afternoon, but the ground under the tracks appeared to have given way toward the river and the track on that side was in pieces.
Yellow fire tape telling people not to cross to the tracks had been strung up between telephone poles, and Falvey remained on the scene to keep onlookers back while he waited for railroad investigators to arrive.
He said there wasn’t a large concern because no one was hurt and the cargo was just “some very wet paper right now.”
The train consisted of 18 cars and was headed to the Northern Maine Junction in Hermon. The engineer was slowing from a 25 mph zone to 10 mph when the train derailed, Falvey said.
Two engines and 10 cars continued on to Hermon at about 2 p.m., and Falvey said the cars at the rear of the train that were being blocked by debris from the derailment would be picked up later.
“It happened right in the middle of the train, so they’re going to pick those up from the other end,” Falvey said.