Thunder, lightning and hail from a fast-moving storm filled the late afternoon skies over Barre, Mass., and provided an appropriate prelude to the chorus of complaints the Board of Health would hear from abutters and neighbors of Wildwood Reload on South Barre Road, the Worcester News Telegram reports.

The Board of Health meeting was a culmination of months of complaints stemming from a Mass. Central Railroad contract to get railroad ties ready for use by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority on the Old Colony Line. Creosote-treated rail ties come by rail car where they are unbundled, fitted with metal brackets and rebundled to be shipped as needed.

Some residents had e-mailed complaints and questions to the Board of Health and at least one other contacted Air Pollution Control at the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Robert Bentley of Mass. Central Railroad said the bracket-affixing operation was being moved from just off South Barre Road to a distant point on the site that was not near any houses.

While some questioned the health consequences of breathing creosote fumes, and complained of headaches and stomach aches, others said they had had to forgo their customary "quality of life," including enjoying the backyard pool and deck.

Bentley assured those looking for help that the contract would end in February.

Health Agent Stephanie Bacon said she had been in contact with DEP and was told that during the curing process, the emissions from the railroad ties did not exceed levels appropriate for the industrial zone in which Wildwood Reload is located.

Board Chairman Dana Mascroft asked residents to meet the railroad halfway and give them the two weeks Bentley said it would take to transition the bracket and rebundling operation from South Barre Road to the location where new shipments of ties are already being offloaded.