Loose Pooch Slows Commute

It was a dog-day kind of evening for Metro-North commuters on the New Haven line Thursday — thanks to a Greenwich canine that slipped out of his collar and bounded onto the railroad tracks near Henry Street in Byram.

The unidentified owner of the small dog, and a couple friends, were trying to corral the pooch along the tracks when a nearby resident, William Anderson saw the commotion about 6:20 p.m., Feb. 23. A captain with the Cos Cob Volunteer Fire Police, Anderson had the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police on speed dial on his cell phone.

"I called them to alert them, so they could slow down trains in the area," Anderson said Thursday night. According to MTA spokesman Sal Arena, train traffic was restricted for about a half-hour.

Anderson said the fleet-footed dog made its way from Henry Street in the Byram area, up to the Chickahominy neighborhood by the Arnold Bakery complex on Hamilton Avenue. "It took about 45 minutes going up there and coming back. The problem is that you're walking on trap rock and we had to be sure each engineer saw us as we were walking," Anderson said.

"The dog kept about a foot in front of everyone until one of the neighbors (of the owner) was able to sweet talk him and scoop him up in his arms," Anderson said. "Everybody was exhausted."

He added, "Unfortunately it meant everyone (on the trains) was delayed by the 15 mph speed restriction." The fact no one was hurt during the evening train rush hour, Anderson said, was due to swift action by the MTA police. "They were excellent. They caught it right away."

Metro-North service was back to normal about an hour later.