Late Friday, my town had a bizarre series of electric transmission problems that I can't help thinking were related to the Baltimore accident and Code Red. Can't blame the problems on heat, it was relatively mild on Friday.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/203/nation/Four_smoldering_cars_remain_in:.shtml

Four smoldering cars remain in tunnel; removal to be delayed by baseball game

By Paul Payne, Associated Press, 7/22/2001 12:36

BALTIMORE (AP) Firefighters removed two smoldering boxcars from a downtown tunnel Sunday, leaving only four more cars from the days-old train derailment that crippled the city and disrupted Internet service across the country.

Crews planned to remove another car by early afternoon, but would halt work when the Baltimore Orioles play a doubleheader at 1:35 p.m. The tunnel is just a few hundred yards away from Camden Yards baseball field.

Firefighters planned to extinguish the flames after they're pulled from the tunnel. ''When we pull those cars out they're smoldering,'' CSX Transportation Inc. spokesman Robert Gould said Sunday.

The cars have burned since Wednesday when a freight train carrying hydrochloric acid and other hazardous materials derailed inside the tunnel and caught fire, closing several city blocks, blocking highways and burning fiber optic cables for Internet service.

On Saturday, the last tanker cars loaded with hazardous chemicals were pulled from the tunnel, eliminating 95 percent of the danger and allowing the Orioles to play the Anaheim Angels Saturday night after three postponements.

Emergency workers pulled 26 cars from the tunnel on Saturday, including a charred, ruptured tanker that had leaked 5,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid. It was the last car containing hazardous chemicals to be removed.

No one has been seriously injured.

A ruptured water main above the tunnel continued gushing into a major downtown intersection Sunday. At least 60 million gallons of water had spewed from the pipe since Wednesday, partly collapsing the street. City crews said the leak could not be stopped until the fire was extinguished and the tunnel walls had been certified safe.

The National Transportation Safety Board continued to investigate the derailment. No cause has been determined. Fire Department spokesman Hector Torres said Saturday the fire likely was caused by sparks igniting chemicals seeping from one of the tankers.

Inspectors will investigate reports of a one-hour delay between the derailment and the call to firefighters, and whether the 106-year old tunnel is safe for continued use.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001