February 13, 2025
Archive

Police: Keeping youth off Maine tracks a chore

LEBANON – The section of railroad track where two girls lost limbs on Wednesday is a popular draw for the area’s young people, a police chief said, and more than once, kids have had to push panicked friends out of the way to avoid being hit by trains.

“We’ve been trying to avoid this,” said Police Chief Mark McGowan of Milton, N.H., on the Lebanon border. “We are constantly trying to keep the kids off the track.”

Wednesday night, hours after a slow-moving freight train hit the two girls who had fallen asleep while sunbathing on the track, a neighbor called police to chase away two boys who were fishing from the same spot.

And McGowan says the issue came up at a meeting Tuesday evening at which police talked about summer enforcement patrols.

“On really warm days, kids like to jump off the trestle into the water,” he said.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like