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Berm breach on April 5, 2010

and rebuilt by April 7, 2010

photo of stuff floating down brown riverAt about 5pm on April 5th, observant neighbors to the Housatonic River noticed “stuff” floating down the river and the water turned brown with sediment. photo more stuff in riverLooking from the Pomeroy Ave bridge near Holmes Road. photo of stuff caught in a tree in the riverWhere a tree hung into the river, lots of “stuff” was caught.
photo of railroad tracks suspended over rushing waterThe water from Morewood Lake had washed away part of the berm under the Housatonic Railroad’s tracks. close up photo of water rushing out of Morewood Lake Water from the lake continued to wash away more and more of the berm. Another photo of the breachThe Housatonic Railroad tracks were left suspended over the rushing water.
photo of old railroad ties next to lakeIf you look carefully you can see lots of old, discarded railroad ties on the bank of Morewood Lake. Under Mass. law, leaving hazardous waste (the old ties) anywhere, let alone on the bank of a lake, is illegal. But the Housatonic Railroad doesn’t answer to state law. photo of more old railroad ties in the bank of the wetlandMore old ties in the bank of the wetland and stream. Another photo of ties in the bank of the wetlandThe bank to the wetland has more old ties in it.
April 7, 201048 hours later, the Housatonic Railroad had rebuilt the berm. They did not appear to have used any erosion control measures.How did they calculate what size culvert was necessary to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again?

 

48 hours after the breachphoto of red arrows pointing to new bermThe red arrows are pointing to the new berm that was built within 48 hours. April 7, 2010photo with arrow pointing to the little black culvertThe white arrow is pointing to the tiny new black plastic culvert that the Housatonic Railroad installed within 48 hours of the breach.
photo of engine starting across rebuilt bermOnce the berm was built up, they ran the engine over the tracks… photo of engine further across bermvery, very slowly. photo of engine all the way across bermIt made horrible, grinding-metal noises!
photo showing tracks saggingAfter the engine made it across, you could see the tracks had sagged. Poor guys – it was 84 degrees out. They ran the engine back over the berm – very, very slowly. More screeching of metal, and again the tracks sagged. We left at that point. We need people to advocate for environmetnally responsible railroads.
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