Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla says the device, resembling two sticks of dynamite with wires, was detonated by a bomb squad Tuesday and turned out to be harmless.
Abdalla told a television station in Steubenville he suspects it was a prop left behind by a film crew that was in the area earlier this year making "Unstoppable," a thriller about a runaway train.
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway workers had found the item earlier in the day along tracks near Rayland, about 120 miles east of Columbus.
