Suspicious Discovery in Bird House Temporarily Closes Vt. Train Tracks

Freight rail traffic through Charlotte, Vermont was halted temporarily Monday morning, following the discovery of a suspicious object.

Vermont State Police say an item that resembled a grenade was located in a bird house near the train tracks on Ferry Road, forcing train traffic through the community south of Burlington to be put on hold.

The bomb squad responded and determined the object wasn’t really a grenade, and did not contain the fusing system typical of a grenade. Instead, police said it was preliminarily determined to be a plastic remnant of a used, consumer-grade firework – which no longer posed any serious danger. The object will be disposed of, police added.

Freight traffic started rolling again on the tracks after about two hours, VSP said.