Maine Department of Transportation unplugged a culvert the week of Feb. 4 after ice briefly blocked a Central Maine and Quebec Railway freight train's crossing of Route 144 in Wiscasset. Responding to email questions Feb. 8, MDOT Spokesman Ted Talbot wrote: "The ice on the tracks was due to a plugged driveway culvert on the road that backed up water on the tracks."

It was the driveway culvert of a private property, Talbot said. "The (railway) cleared the ice on the day the train was there so it could pass ... Our highway crew unplugged and removed the ice from the driveway culvert along the highway ... to fix the root cause of the problem."

On Feb. 2, neighbors observed vehicles briefly turning around on either side of the crossing until the train backed off the road and the ice was removed from the tracks.