(The Toledo Blade posted the following article on its website on June 9.)
BELLEVUE, Ohio — A trainload of trash that was delivered to an area landfill is thought to have included a World War II-vintage hand grenade found on a rail car yesterday.
Capt. Paul Sigsworth of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office said the device was found about 8 p.m. Wednesday on a ledge of a Norfolk Southern rail hopper car used to haul garbage from the New York City area. Lorain County’s bomb squad was called to handle the grenade.
Captain Sigsworth said a federal railroad inspector was examining rail cars at the marshaling yard along State Rt. 4 near Bellevue and saw debris on a small platform or ledge on the end of the car. A railroad employee who was directed to remove the debris saw the device and alerted authorities.
The landfill uses a crane to empty the trash from the hopper cars, which can lead to spills, and it may have dropped the grenade, Captain Sigsworth said. “Who knows where it came from?” he said.
The cars are then returned to the rail yard and reassembled into a train. The car was isolated on a siding until the bomb squad could remove the grenade. Captain Sigsworth said the device was exploded at the squad’s facility in Lorain.
The pineapple-shaped grenade appeared to have been damaged. He said the grenade was rusted enough to prevent the mechanics from triggering the device’s explosion.