(The following story by Edward Marshall appeared on The Journal website on March 5, 2010.)
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — A MARC service commuter train was rerouted on the Brunswick Line near the train station in Harpers Ferry Thursday night after a fire broke out on a portion of the CSX Railroad track on a bridge in the area.
Independent Fire Co. Chief Ed Smith, who was the fire commander at the scene, said firefighters were dispatched to the fire at about 6:50 p.m., and the fire was put out shortly afterward.
“We arrived on scene and found the bridge on fire and the walkway along the bridge on fire I’m guess about 100 yards east of the train station,” Smith said. “There was a commuter train coming in. We stopped them and they … bused the people back to Harpers Ferry and also over to Martinsburg.”
The train is believed to be the one that was scheduled to make a 7:15 p.m. stop at the Harpers Ferry station before continuing on to Duffields Station and then to Martinsburg for a 7:46 p.m. stop. The train was turned back as a result of the fire. It is unclear how many passengers were on the train at the time.
“I don’t have a clue how many were on there. I do know that there were about 30 cars in the parking lot in Harpers Ferry still,” Smith said.
The Friendship Fire Co., Citizens Fire Co. and Harpers Ferry Fire Department responded to the scene along with firefighters from Independent Fire Co.
Other local emergency agencies as well as law enforcement personnel also were on scene.
“It’s just speculation and the CSX people are trying to verify it, but what we were told was that there was rail grinding going on today where they grind the rails I guess and take rough spots out. That might have been the cause. It’s unconfirmed, but that’s the suspicion at this time,” Smith said.
Firefighters left the scene at about 9:30 p.m. CSX representatives remained at the scene.
“They had bridge inspector that was going to do rail inspections to determine whether they could open the westbound tracks,” Smith said. “As soon as we cleared the scene, they opened the eastbound traffic.”