The Old Orchard Beach (Maine) area was hit with a string of trackside fires linked to a freight train passing Yesterday afternoon. Witnesses said they saw sparks coming from the train (it's unclear where on the train) igniting brush fires, some large enough to destroy several trailers in a campground. This isn't on the scale of the recent oil tanker fires, but it's interesting to me that the fires were spread over such a large area.
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The trains in Maine spew mainly open flames.
But seriously, this was probably caused by an engine that spent a lot of time idling, and then was sent out on a run. Oil "blows by" the piston rings, and collects in the exhaust manifold, this "soup" as some call it ignites as load and RPMs pick up and heat it. It can appear as sparks, or even flames. So to YouTube and search for locomotive exhaust flames, and you'll get quite a selection.
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine. – Fire officials in southern Maine believe that a five-alarm wildfire may have been sparked by a passing Pan Am Railways train on Thursday afternoon, WCSH-TV reports.
The blaze destroyed 10 trailers and damaged six others at a trackside campground after some propane tanks caught fire and exploded, according to witnesses. The fires were reported shortly after 1 p.m., not long after Amtrak's Downeaster and a freight train went through the area.
“First we heard the passenger train go by and about five minutes later we heard an old freighter just hauling down the tracks,” Cindy Rowe tells WCSH. “You could see it was sparking. Almost immediately (you could smell) a burning tire smell and we saw that some grass and stuff was on fire.”
The train was later stopped in Portland so that it could be inspected, according to railroad officials. Photos of the fire show smoke and flames along the right-of-way for more than a mile and, according to the local fire chief, other brush fires were reported along the tracks in five communities from Old Orchard Beach to Scarborough.
Because of dry conditions and warm weather, southern Maine's fire danger is high right now. High winds may have also helped the blaze spread, regardless of its cause.
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