D&H Wreck

[Anonymous]

A friend recently sent me copies of some pages of your summer edition. The photo on page 33 of D&H #1504 heading up the west bound hill was taken at a very familiar spot, only minutes from where I was brought up in Schenectady, NY. From early boyhood, I was aware of the uphill westbound grade. Whenever I listened to the trains at night, I could tell whether they were headed westward out of town or eastward into town. The engines would be chugging hard on the long uphill grade, but rolling effortlessly when coming down into town.

I went back three years ago to walk this section of track pictured on p.33, but heading eastward. The tracks are passing through cut between the hills at this point, and as a boy, I could stand on top of the bank to the right (not in this photo) and watch the trains speed by. There had been an old race track up there, but it was no longer in business.

My main memory of this spot is of a big wreck that happened just around the curve as you face east in this photo. An eastbound freight came roaring around this corner and slammed into several cars that had come unhitched from the rear of a previous train. When the engineer and fireman saw what was about to happen, they attempted to jump clear, the fireman to the left, and the engineer to the right. The fireman survived, but the engineer evidently waited to long to jump, and was killed when the engine went over on its side and fell on him. When my friends and I heard about the wreck, we hastened to the top of the bank to see it. The freight cars were piled as high as telegraph poles, and it took most of the week to clear the tracks. I think that the year must have been somewhere between 1942 – 1944. There must be photos in the Schenectady Gazette of that wreck, but I have never been able to find them. I'm wondering if your magazine has ever published photos of this wreck, or if any member of this forum remembers anything about it.

Morgan Roberts, Palmetto, Florida

[joseph2]

There is a D&H forum at www.railroad.net/forums/index.php Back in 1941 low water caused the crownsheet to melt on an almost new 4-6-6-4 they had.I wonder why the alarms didn't work ? I used to have a link to the government last of railroad acccidents but I lost it. Joe

[sebamat]

go to http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/

click on RR accident reports 1911-1960 and look year after year. It will take some time , but if there were deads in the acident, there should be a report.

sebastiano