Aurich Arkansas wreck 11/29/1949 (SSW)

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Aurich, Arkansas Wreck
5:30 AM November 29, 1949

On this day 60 years ago two Cotton Belt freight trains met head on in the fog at the siding called Aurich about a mile North of Ulm, Arkansas. A long southbound freight had just sawed by a northbound passenger train at Aurich. After the southbound freight allowed the passenger train by it was getting ready to repeat the maneuver with a northbound freight when the accident occurred. The diesel powered northbound entered the siding and hit the L1 powered southbound freight head on. The accident was blamed on the northbound crew being unable to see a warning flare because of the fog. The complete story is in The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer of nearby Stuttgart. The paper had this story on its front page Tuesday November 29, 1949. You can find a copy of this paper on Microfiche at the Stuttgart Library.

“Two Cotton Belt Freight Trains Collide; Traffic Blocked
Front Engine of Diesel Wrecked When It Hit Steam Engine On Siding.”

The very next day the paper ran a shorter story of the front page.

“Wrecker Clears St. L.-S. W. Tracks After Collision”

What caused this wreck? What were the results of it and what happened to the two FT units. I had become intrigued with this event after seeing some photos of the wreck on the Geocities site that has since been taken down. The one striking photo on that site was the one with the FT A unit with its long end up in the air and the 16V-567A engine showing outside the carbody. Another photo of the Aurich wreck is here
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/slsw817.jpg

Emails were exchanged with EMD historian Andre J. Kristopans. It is Kristopan’s speculation that the two wrecked Cotton Belt FTs were beyond the repair capability of Pine Bluff shops. The two wrecked FTs were shipped off to LaGrange either as trade in material or to be rebuilt. The first five repair jobs at EMD are undocumented on Kristopan’s website #7000-7004. The two Cotton Belt FTs are likely to be one of these repair jobs at EMD. http://community-2.webtv.net/ajkristopans/REPAIRJOBS/

In February 1950 the Cotton Belt received seven F7A units and four F7B units. These were a part of EMD order number E3001. At the same time Southern Pacific was receiving its EMD order number E3015 for 16 F7As and 16 F7Bs.

Later in April 1950 Cotton Belt received one F7A and one F7B. These two units were on EMD order number 3055. Were these two units ordered as a result of the Aurich Wreck? I have no way to tell, but do note that this was a separate order to EMD for a single A and a single B unit. EMD order number 3056 was for the Cotton Belt’s FP7 unit also delivered in April 1950. The next Southern Pacific order for F7s didn’t start delivery until October 1950. See http://community-1.webtv.net/ajkristopans/FREIGHTCABUNITS/page3.html for EMD order numbers, serial numbers and road numbers of the F7 units. Or see http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/ordersearch.htm and look in the 3000 series of EMD orders.

Ed Cooper
CBRHS #114 Pine Bluff Chapter

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Here is a quote from the paper, "The front unit of the diesel was telescoped by the impact, and the motor forced through the roof. No cars pulled by the diesel left the tracks. The steam locomotive was pushed back almost 100 yards and several cars of that train were derailed." from the The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer November 29, 1949.
 
The November 30, 1949 edition of the paper said the Cotton Belt wrecker crews had the track cleared by 9:10 PM some 15 hours and 40 minutes after the wreck.   
 

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Aurich, Arkansas was on the Jonesboro Sub-Division at milepost 225.17. It had a 98 car passing siding, about 4410 feet long. It was just north of Ulm, AR at milepost 226.27. And south of Roe, AR at milepost 220.62. The nearest open agencies with Day/Night telegraph were Clarendon (CN), at milepost 214.03 and Stuttgart (Z), at milepost 233.31. Pine Bluff Shops was at milepost 266.72.

The L1 powered too long southbound freight had just cleared northbound #6 and had backed up to repeat the maneuver with the diesel powered northbound when the collision occurred.

http://www.mx.reocities.com/TheTropics/8199/head_on.html

These photos were taken the morning of the accident looking west. Additional accident information is available on page 1 of The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer for November 29th and 30th, 1949. The newspaper is on microfiche at the Stuttgart Public Library.  As you will see from the linked photos the 921 was destroyed in the wreck. The thing sticking up in the air is the 16V-567A engine from the 921.

The 921:1 was sent back to EMD in pieces and some time in 1950 a new 921:2 emerged riding on an F7 frame.