by Bea Peterson
The silence through the Hoosick and Hoosick Falls area late Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning into afternoon was deafening. Not a train rumble or whistle was heard. It was scarier than Halloween. The cause of the silence was a 14 car derailment not far from the Hoosick Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant at about four o’clock Tuesday. [private]The engine and a portion of the intermodal train stopped just before the Elm St. rail crossing in the Village and remained there until about 7 pm. The train was on its way to Ayer, MA.
According to Cynthia Scarano, Executive Vice-President PanAm Railroad, the cause of the derailment is still under investigation. “We have to look at the black box and gather other information,” she said by phone on Wednesday. The materials in the derailed cars were all non-hazardous, she added. Some of the cars were so damaged they had to be removed from the tracks. Scarano expected train traffic to resume some time Wednesday afternoon and shortly after noontime the rumbles and whistles returned.
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