ALL:
Fifty nine years ago, on September 15th 1958, a CNJ commuter train plunged off the Newark Bay Bridge into Newark Bay. Many commuters and CNJ employees were killed. A "Trains" article in February 1960 have an excellent article on this accident. That article states that the two locomotives were not re-built, however Wikipedia says that both were re-built. The 1532 remained the 1532 and the 1526 was re-numbered to 1531. Wikipedia also states that a picture of one of the locomotives was on a passenger train. The bridge was demolished in the 1980's because it was a hazard to navigation.
At this time, can anyone shed new light on this accident? Was the train traveling too fast to stop after derailing? It can never be determined why the fireman did not stop the train when the engineer did not.
Ed Burns
Official Accident Report
http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/Document?db=DOT-RAILROAD&query=(select+3772)
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The two wrecked GP7s were rebuilt into GP9s.
I should add that "You Tube" has some excellent interviews on this tragedy. The Newark Historical Society made a video on the 50th anniversity of this accident.
Excerpt from NY Daily News, Sept. 16, 1958
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tragic-train-accident-new-jersey-1958-article-1.2360153
As the train approached, the Sand Captain, a barge, got clearance. Drawbridge Capt. Patrick Corcoran of Elizabeth raised the span and set the railroad signals. These were:
A yellow-over-green caution light a mile and a half from the open draw; then an amber caution three quarters of a mile away; finally, a red signal, 550 feet away.
Almost till the last minute, it seemed, engineer Wilburn was following standard operating procedure. Though permitted to go 45 m.p.h. on the bridge, he was proceeding at an estimated 25 to 30 m.p.h. and he had a reserve factor. Corcoran had also set the derailer which throws a train off the tracks once it passes a red light.
And then something inexplicable happened.
Commuters looking out the windows wondered why the barge didn't stop before it crashed into the presumably closed span. The barge crew wondered why the train didn't slow – and at the last moment, desperately backed water to avoid being crushed from above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPxbXVjHZ0g&t=34s
Wanswheel:
Thank you for the many excellent pictures you provided. This was a great tragedy, as was the "Sunset Limited" wreck. The "You Tube" citation I referred to gives a further prospective of the events of that morning. The narrator speculates that the engineer had a heart attack and was dead before hitting the water and that the fireman was attending to one of the units.
To conclude, thanks to all!
Referring to the bridge, why did the Coast Guard (?) determine that it was a hazard to navigation? I assume that the tracks were removed from the approaches and on the bridge. If they were, was this part of the Conrail removal of unnecessary trackage.
The bridge wasn't a hazard to navigation, however the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had been agitating for quite a while for its removal to allow larger ships into Port Newark.
Came Conrail, and the CNJ drawbridge and associated trackage wasn't needed anymore, so down it came.
I remember seeing a picture of the bridge approaches in an article in TRAINS about the proposed re-organization of CNJ (this was prior to the USRA) which shows two of the tracks already removed.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/nj0876/
Thank you for the aerial photographs! The photo with the container ship does show why the Port Authority wanted to remove the bridge. Photo HAER NJ 37-28 shows the approach and part of the bridge. It looks like the rails have been removed from the approach and bridge in preparation to remove the bridge.
They had no quams about showing pictures of dead bodys in 1958..unlike today.
Well, actually they did. Those folks in the posted pictures aren't victims, they're survivors.
I do have a rail video showing the aftermath of the 1951 wreck of the "Broker" in Woodbridge NJ (83 killed) which is made up of unused newsreel film. You DO see bodies in that wreck footage, one particularly gruesome shot is a victim with the consistancy of a rag doll. The key word is "unused," those shots never made it to the theater newsreels.
One interesting thing in those shots, to me at least, is how well-fed and husky all the rescue personnel, police, firefighters, first-aid squad, even the doctors, nurses, and clergymen are! Looks like the Great Depression/ World War Two generation more than made up for all the lost time and privations they went through. Then again, take it from me, New Jersey's got some of the best food anywhere! Very easy to overindulge, let me tell you!
Thank You.
Technically they were rebuilt to GP9Ms as both units were rated at 1500 horsepower after the July 1959 rebuild. Central RR of New Jersey #1531-1532 new serial numbers were 25447-25448 on repair order #8063. Diesel data from A J Kristopans site on Utah Rails http://utahrails.net/ajkristopans/REPAIRJOBS.php . The 8000 series EMD repair order suggests that these were new frame rebuilds using parts of the old GP7s as credit on the overall cost.
CandOforprogress2 They had no quams about showing pictures of dead bodys in 1958..unlike today.
CSSHEGEWISCH CandOforprogress2 They had no quams about showing pictures of dead bodys in 1958..unlike today. You're obviously unaware of the controversy during WW2 that came with the release of the picture of dead Marines at Buna.
Straying a bit from the topic--that reminds me--I heard a few years ago that much of the war footage in WWII was filmed on Kodachrome then copied onto black and white for the news reels. I'm thinking they figured the color pictures would be too graphic for the general public.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
A lot, if not all of the Navy and Marine Corps combat footage from World War Two was shot with Kodachrome. I believe quite a lot of the Army's footage from Europe was shot on color film as well, but not the majority of it.
I suspect a lot of the color footage was copied onto black and white newsreel film strictly for economic reasons. The Oscar winning short film "With The Marines On Tarawa" was a color theatrical release, as was John Ford's "Battle of Midway" and William Wyler's "Memphis Belle."
And post-war, that combat footage was again copied to black and white for TV documentarys, like the magnificient and classic "Victory at Sea." Made sense, no-one had a color TV in 1952 when the show was first broadcast.
It's only in the last 30 years or so that we're seeing a lot of the WW2 combat footage the way it was originally shot, and not just American, but British and German as well. By the way, anyone find color movies of Hitler (real color, not computer-color) as creepy as I do? It's like he's still out there, somewhere.
NDG Around the same time someone set loose a CNJ Diesel unmanned, and they intercepted it with another locomotive. RS3 on the loose. H-15-44 intercepting.
Around the same time someone set loose a CNJ Diesel unmanned, and they intercepted it with another locomotive.
RS3 on the loose. H-15-44 intercepting.
This was covered in an early 1960's issue of Popular Science, ran across that article when going through "back issues" of PS on Google Books. The CNJ people involved did an outstanding job of stopping the "runaway".
- Erik
erikem NDG Around the same time someone set loose a CNJ Diesel unmanned, and they intercepted it with another locomotive. RS3 on the loose. H-15-44 intercepting. This was covered in an early 1960's issue of Popular Science, ran across that article when going through "back issues" of PS on Google Books. The CNJ people involved did an outstanding job of stopping the "runaway". - Erik
The story was reprinted in Reader's Digest (probably condensed).
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.