Mechanical failure in one freight car has been listed as the official cause of the Sept. 15 train derailment along Temple Road in the town of Dunkirk which could cost nearly $3 million for the cleanup. Thirty-six of 94 cars of a Conrail freight train derailed when a load of steel coils shifted on one of the cars. The load shifted in transit and there was too much weight over one of the wheels. This basically caused the car to come off the track and 35 cars behind this freight car were also pulled off the tracks. Damage estimates were originally pegged at about $1 million. However, the cleanup also included the containment of 6,000 to 8,000 gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid and 2,000 gallons of waste oil which leaked from some of the overturned tanker cars. The derailment occurred near the site of a small tributary of Canadaway Creek.

Thirty years ago — 1987

The Kremlin is very aware of the friendly talks between U.S. and Soviet citizens at Chautauqua Institution, according to its president, Daniel Bratton. Mr. Bratton said he got that strong impression when he met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a reception for 75 guests at the Russian Embassy in Washington. “When I first met Mr. Gorbachev, I told him I was from Chautauqua, and he immediately responded, without prompting, in a very energetic fashion about the value and success of the Chautauqua conferences and the fact that the reports he received were unanimously enthusiastic,” Mr. Bratton explained.

Forty years ago — 1977

Sheila Meck of Silver Creek is one of three Fredonia State University College seniors nominated for the National Danforth Foundation Awards. These awards are presented to the top 100 college seniors across the nation who plan to enter into college teaching as a career. Miss Meck hopes to combine a career in college teaching and practicing law.

Fifty years ago — 1967

The Very Rev. Valerio A. Bernardo, VF, pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Dunkirk for the past 22 years, was among 27 persons in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo to receive high honors from Pope Paul VI. He was one of 11 priests in the diocese who were raised to the rank of domestic prelate with the title of Right Reverend Monsignor.

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