| On Tuesday July 21, 2015 a hopper car loaded with plastic pallets ended up becoming a runaway, smashed through the track bumper and crashed head on into a steam locomotive that’s on display and drove it 20 feet into the stairwell portion of the pedestrian walkover. At the time, people were on the east side of the platform waiting for Amtrak train 64 which is the eastbound Maple Leaf. Many beams, windows and brickwork collapsed into the tender which is now supporting the stairwell brickwork and steps. Structural engineers stated that if it weren’t for the steam locomotive, the hopper car would have sheared enough of the structure to bring the bridge down on the CSX Mohawk Subdivision and many people would have been killed.Police officers from the Oneida County Sheriff Department teamed up with the Federal Railroad Administration to investigate what went wrong. One week later, it was determined that the cause of the accident was that the hopper car was vandalized by a 13 year old boy. At the time, the hopper car was parked on a siding when it rolled down onto the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway tracks. It struck a 1992 Chevrolet Corvette on the Schuyler Street grade crossing before disaster laid ahead. |