What fell off the train was certainly polyvinyl chloride, an important versatile plastic which is, indeed, used to make pipes. It is also absolutely innocuous. The increasing use of polyvinyl chloride piping is probably the single biggest step we have taken in the last thirty years to reduce lead in drinking water. In another Chemical and Engineering News item an anonymous reader sent in a report of 25,000 pounds of ball bearings that had spilled on a Kentucky highway. Before picking up the ball bearings, however, about 10 gallons of heptane had to be cleaned up.
Heptane is one of the many components of gasoline.
The gas tanks of most of our cars are made of metal. End of story. Heptane does not react with metals . The Fib Finder figures it is likely that on that same day in Camden a careless bartender dropped a half full pint bottle of 100 proof vodka. Of course, this environmental calamity went unreported.