A Portland man was arrested after driving a stolen front-end loader along train tracks Saturday morning in Falmouth, police said.

Charles Ayres Photo courtesy of the Falmouth Police Department
Police said two trains narrowly missed hitting the front-end loader earlier as it was being driven near the tracks by Charles Ayres, 45.
The first train was an Amtrak passenger train and the second was a freight train that was forced to make an emergency stop, according to statement on the Falmouth police Facebook page.
The freight train made its stop near the intersections of Falmouth Road and Leighton Road. That intersection was closed to traffic for several hours while railroad engineers checked for damage to tracks or equipment.
When police arrested Ayres around 8:20 a.m., he was sitting in the front-end loader on tracks near Blackstrap Road, north of where the freight train stopped.
Ayres was charged with felony theft by unauthorized use of a vehicle, aggravated criminal mischief and driving to endanger. He was being held Saturday at the Cumberland County Jail.
Police said the front-end loader was stolen from a parking lot on St. John Street in Portland sometime Friday night or Saturday morning. Police said Ayres was uncooperative with police and they didn’t know why he took the front-end loader or where he was trying to go.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
-
Community
Immigration, refugee policy focus of April 25 forum
-
Boston Celtics
Tatum carries Celtics past Warriors for sixth straight win
-
Boston Red Sox
Red Sox continue torrid start, beat White Sox with eighth-inning outburst
-
Arts & Entertainment
Felix Silla, Cousin Itt on TV’s ‘Addams Family,’ dies at 84
-
Local & State
Clammers digging through pandemic, but shellfish are fewer
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi {SUB NAME}, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have one? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.