A Pan Am Train train bound for Rumford Tuesday derailed at a road crossing in Leeds after it struck a buildup of ice.

Pan Am Railways Executive Vice President Cynthia Scarano said no one was injured and there was no damage to the locomotive from the derailment at Blue Rock Road, but traffic was temporarily halted.

“There was an ice dam at a crossing and it derailed on the ice,” Scarano said. “They had to get a crane to tow the locomotive.”

Although Scarano said only a locomotive was derailed, photos from the scene show box cars blocking a grade crossing. Scarano did not immediately return a call seeking clarification.

The diesel-powered locomotive weighs about 160,000 pounds, she said, and would take hours to tow back onto the tracks. The speed limit in that area is 10 mph, and she said speed is not believed to have been a factor.

Scarano said the derailment is the first for Pan Am in a couple of years, and that it did not rise to the level of seriousness for it to be reported to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Pan Am is the largest freight operator in Maine, with about 380 employees and access to a rail system that stretches from the Maine-New Hampshire border in the south, Fort Kent in the north, Houlton in the east and Rumford in the west.

The locomotive was headed to Rumford to pick up loaded and empty cars, she said, and the accident will delay scheduled movements on that line for a day. No passenger cars travel on those tracks, she said.


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