Another Housatonic Railroad Disaster Averted
Another Housatonic Railroad Disaster Averted – 4/5/2010
(There have been 2 more Housatonic Railroad (HRRC) derailments since this article, not to mention the HRRC derailment the week before this happened.)
Around 5 pm on April 5th, Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) received a phone call from someone living along the Housatonic River near the Holmes Road and Pomeroy Ave bridges that the river was muddy brown and had stuff floating in it… lots of stuff. Jane Winn, Executive Director of BEAT, grabbed a camera and ran.
Jane joined several of the river neighbors, Ryan Sabourin and Julia Berkowitz, and we explored.
The river was fine at Fred Garner Park – both branches were clear. So the team traced the river from the Pomeroy Ave bridge (near Holmes Road/Miss Hall’s School) upstream, where they came across what used to be a swampy area that was now a strongly flowing, muddy little river running into the Housatonic River. Following this muddy river upstream, they came to the source of the problem. What used to be a berm under the railroad tracks had completely washed away, and the water from a very full Morewood Lake was rushing down to the Housatonic River.
The water had washed about 30 feet of the berm away and the banks were still eroding, leaving the train tracks with their ties attached suspended above the gap. The Ryan Sabourin called 911 and was eventually connected to the fire department to whom he reported the problem and asked that the railroad be notified. Jane Winn of BEAT also tried to call the Housatonic Railroad directly, but only connected to an answering machine. Soon Bruce Winn joined the group and also called 911.
Soon, the team was joined by James Conant, chair of the Pittsfield Conservation Commission and employee of the Pittsfield Country Club. He and his family were investigating why the level of Morewood Lake was suddenly dropping. He apparently had been aware of beaver activity at a culvert that had been where the breach occurred.
We all agreed no train could make it over those tracks. And then we heard the train whistle!
Ryan and Julia headed up the tracks in the direction of the whistle. They flagged down the train, whose engineers had been alerted by the fire department as well. The train stopped and the engineers agreed, the train would not make it over those tracks. We had saved them from another disaster that would have been much worse than the one in Lee last week. The engine would have gone straight down into the rushing water with definite injury to people.
Thank you to Ryan Sabourin and Julia Berkowitz for saving the day!
Check out Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team’s (HEAT’s) website about all their problems with the Housatonic Railroad.
BEAT is starting to develop a section of our website about the problems with the Housatonic Railroad which has more photographs of the breach.
