Kelso police said they arrested a 37-year-old transient carrying two homemade explosives near the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks Saturday.

BNSF agents were sweeping the company’s property of transient camps when they apprehended Jeffrey James Bell for trespassing. The agents found the explosives in his backpack, Kelso police Sgt. Doug Lane said.

Lane said Kelso police contacted the Portland bomb squad, which “rendered the devices inert.”

The explosives amounted to sealed cylinders packed with gunpowder and with a fuse, he said.

It’s unclear what exactly Bell planned to do with the devices, Lane said, but they weren’t powerful enough damage the tracks or disrupt a train.

“They could kill a person easily — loss of limbs all the way up to a fatality. We don’t mess with these.” Lane added: “Don’t ever touch one.”

Bell was held Saturday evening in the Cowlitz County Jail on suspicion of felony possession of explosives. His bail was set at $1,000.

Kelso police said in a memo Tuesday that BNSF agents would patrol its tracks this week in Kelso. There was no evidence that Bell had been camping in the area, Lane said.