Most people I know are happy to hear that a teenager wants to do something other than troll the mall and be uncommunicative. There's a Connecticut teen taking on a huge challenge, and he's getting some push back because of it.

Way to go people. Try to dash the dreams of a teenager.

Back on Nov. 1, we covered the story about the Connecticut teen who bought himself a 22 - ton Boxcar. 

As you can see from reading the story, it took a lot to get the train car transferred to his home in Woodstock Connecticut. The young man ( he's 15 years old ) Orion Vuillemot bought the decrepit freight train boxcar with the hope of restoring it and then donating it to a museum.

Then a neighbor tried to throw a monkey wrench into the works. According to courant.com  the neighbor complained about the large train saying it poses a lead paint danger.

I agree that no one would want the threat of lead paint leeching into their water, but when I continued to read the story, it seems to me the neighbors might think the hulking boxcar is perhaps an eyesore. Because as you dig in a bit, the article in the Hartford Courant  has an interesting statement from Howard Pincus, president of the nonprofit Naugatuck Railroad, which sold Orion the boxcar from the surplus rolling stock in its Waterbury train yard.

Pincus said the Naugatuck Railroad volunteers had once before restored the boxcar back in 1986, a job that included removal of old paint and repainting with non-lead paint.  Pincus had this to say to the Hartford Courant:

I think the lead paint issue is a red herring,

According to the story, the neighbors that raised the issue applaud Orion for the undertaking, but they think the work should be done in a secure location by trained technicians, not in the yard of a home, evidently by a teenager.

Yeah, like I said, not so much about the unlikely leeching of lead paint, but seems to me more about the ugliness of the big, old boxcar in the backyard. What do you think?

Thankfully the zoning board rejected the challenge to permit, which allows the boxcar in his yard for temporary storage.

Orion Vuillemot : 1  Neighbors : 0

Listen to Pam Brooks weekdays from 10-3PM on 95.1 FM, online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.

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