— by Eric Francis

4/20/23

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION - Police in White River Junction are investigating an incident Thursday afternoon in which a woman in her 50s was struck by a freight train and lay stricken alongside the tracks for some period of time before she was discovered and then rescued by firefighters.

Although police had not yet officially released her name on Thursday, friends said the woman, who was transported to the hospital with what were believed to be minor injuries, is a resident of South Main Street who has lived downtown for approximately four years.

Hartford Police, who responded along with the fire department shortly after 5 p.m. to an access point on the tracks near the middle of Latham Works Lane, were met with a confusing scene.

A bag of food the woman had apparently purchased at the nearby Big Fatty’s BBQ restaurant was lying amongst the tracks, next to the woman’s pink ball cap and a set of broken tortoise-shell sunglasses.  Several yards away, the remains of a burnt blue backpack sat between a set of tracks along with a charred wallet, a lighter, and a smaller blue cloth bag that appeared to contain a cellphone, which was also heavily burned.

Firefighters said the backpack was smoldering when they arrived and removed the woman to a nearby ambulance.

Hartford Police Detective Scott Moody looks at the bag of food the woman was carrying, which was marked with receipts from the nearby Big Fatty’s BBQ. Her Pink ball cap can be seen sitting atop the ballast by the detective’s feet. Eric Francis photo.

Fire Marshal Tom Peltier said at the scene that it was unclear at that early stage of the investigation what had caused the woman’s backpack to catch fire, but he noted that it might have been caught by the train and ignited by either the extreme friction of being dragged, or perhaps because the cellphone, which contains a lithium battery, had been squeezed directly between one of the steel wheels and the rail.

A resident of Latham Works Lane who saw the woman being assisted by firefighters said she was conscious and alert and did not have any obvious injuries as she was being lifted out of the rail yard to the waiting ambulance.

There were no trains operating in the immediate area when emergency responders arrived, but they had dispatchers place a call to the railroads to hold all train traffic into and out of White River Junction for the better part of an hour while investigators were on the tracks.  That hold delayed the northbound Amtrak Vermonter passenger train, which halted in the Hartland area before it was eventually cleared to resume its journey.

Hartford Police Sgt. Duncan MacDonald looks over the burnt backpack and wallet where they were found on the tracks. Eric Francis photo.

Hartford Police Sgt. Duncan MacDonald looks over the burnt backpack and wallet where they were found on the tracks.

Police did speak to the crew of the last freight train that had come through the area and who were working in the north yard at the far end of the village when the woman was discovered.  They told officers that they had not been aware that anyone had been struck as they passed through the area behind the large white salt shed that sits opposite Latham Works Lane downtown.

Hartford Police Detective Scott Moody said it appeared the woman was walking south along the tracks headed for Latham Works Lane from the South Main Street area when the mishap occurred.

“If there are any witnesses who might have seen her walking on the tracks or who might have seen this incident take place we’d like to hear from them,” the detective noted.