Fire On The Rails

By Andrew Gorosko

An electric-diesel locomotive owned by the Housatonic Railroad, which was hauling fewer than a dozen freight cars carrying lumber, caught fire midday December 30 while traveling from Hawleyville toward the Borough.

After realizing the lead locomotive of the two-locomotive train had caught fire, its quick-thinking engineer continued driving the train to an area where firefighters and fire trucks could reach it, stopping the train on tracks alongside the Sonics and Materials manufacturing plant, just north of the former train station on Church Hill Road. The locomotive’s air filters had caught fire, producing thick, opaque smoke in swirling winds.

The crew on the train de-energized the burning locomotive and disconnected it from the rest of train, isolating the fire problem, said Dave Ober, Newtown Hook and Ladder’s fire chief.

The move minimized the fire and explosion hazards to the train. The locomotive carries 2,500 gallons of fuel and produces 6,000 volts of electricity.

After arriving, firemen clambered aboard the burning locomotive with firehoses and extinguished the blaze, which caused heavy white smoke to pour from exhaust ports atop the vehicle.

There were no injuries in the fire, Chief Ober said.

The railroad planned to roll the damaged 360,000-pound locomotive back to its railyard in Canaan to inspect it for damage, he said.

Because the train crew had disconnected the freight cars from the burning locomotive, the freight cars were undamaged.

Newtown Hook and Ladder and Sandy Hook sent seven fire trucks to the incident. Police and the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps also responded.

Fire Marshal George Lockwood estimated damage to the locomotive’s air filtration system at about $2,000. The engine’s air filters apparently had become clogged, causing the blaze, he said.

The engineer saw smoke billowing out of the air filters near Hanover Road and drove the train less than a mile before stopping it near the factory where firefighters could reach it, Mr Lockwood said. The train had been headed to Botsford.