For the Centennial of Casey Jones' crash, I visited the Casey Jones Museum in Vaughn, Mississippi. The museum collection included a cracked locomotive bell that had reportedly come from a nearby farm. While it was not certain that this was the bell from Casey's 4-6-0, it "fit" the legend and was a nice "touchable" momento.
A couple years later, I found that the Vaughn museum was completely abandoned. Does anyone know what happened to the collection - specifically what happened to that bell??
Bill
I found this rather interesting link:
http://www.watervalley.net/users/caseyjones/casey.htm
Apparently the museum has been moved, but I did not read all the details. There is a part of the link that looks at the Vaughn site and old museum. Was the museum there the old Vaughn depot? If so, it would be a shame to lose it from abandonment or neglect. They talk about the wreck site being littered with dumpsters, but I don't understand that.
I like that 1900 era. Apparently Casey's train was not actually called the Cannonball. That was just a term used by a newpaper report as a generic term for any fast train of that period. The train eventually was named The City of New Orleans.
Bucyrus link: http://www.watervalley.net/users/caseyjones/casey.htm
link:
According to A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, IC #1 was known as the New Orleans Special, and #2 was known as the Chicago Fast Mail. After WWII, these numbers were assigned to a new schedule, the City of New Orleans.
Johnny
Kind of ironic Casey Jones has been permanently linked thru death to that IC 4-6-0. Back then engineers had assigned engines, and his engine was a fairly new 2-8-0 that had been on display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago when Casey was working there on commuter trains going to and from the fair. He was only in 382 (I think that was the no. of the 4-6-0??) because he had just completed a run and was filling in for an engineer who was ill and couldn't make his regular run.
Bucyrus They talk about the wreck site being littered with dumpsters, but I don't understand that.
They talk about the wreck site being littered with dumpsters, but I don't understand that.
This is a very rural area. The actual site of the crash is about 3/4 mile north of the Vaughn station. You may recall that a southbound freight was snarled getting into the siding at Vaughn, leaving the end of the train out on the main where it was struck by Casey's train. It was never completely clear whether the flagman went far enough back or if Jones didn't see him. The site is on a gentle curve to the left as one travels southbound.
The land adjacent the actual site isn't any sort of well-maintained property. The historical marker that was there was stolen, and the State didn't even see fit to replace it for the centennial. There is a pull-off from the road, and apparently a dumpster has been placed there for local residents. There is an embankment down to the tracks from road level, which is overgrown with kudzu and weeds so getting down to the actual tracks involves some acceptence of possibly dealing with snakes and chiggers.
The folks in Water Valley ran a clean and "crisp" museum when I visited there. I'm glad that they have absorbed the collection from Vaughn.
That is correct Stix. 382 was the engine of the guy that laid off sick. Casey had the 638 as his "normal" engine.
Mr Gurner of the Water Valley Museum has a ton of stories.One was where Casey did pull a passenger train with 638.It was a baseball special whos power had broke down.That was the only time of note that Casey pulled a passenger train with the 638.
Speaking if the 638 Casey talked the IC into buying it and got to run it all the way home!It was said he loved that engine even more than his wife lol.Boy Id love to go to work with that kind of pull.
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
The April 2000 Trains did a great cover story on the wreck and on Casey's life.
One problem was the long sidings at Vaughn were at the end of an S-curve. If it was on a straightaway it's possible Casey may have seen the flagman in time (of course this was at night and before bright electric headlights), but apparently when he came around the first curve and saw the flagman, there was no chance to stop before going thru the second curve in the S and hitting the caboose and cars hanging out on the mainline in front of him. Still he did slow the engine from about 60+MPH to about 25-30 MPH in a fairly short distance. If nothing else it allowed the crew in the caboose and on the ground to scatter and his fireman to jump, so only Casey was killed.
There were no block signals on the Mississippi Div at the time of his wreck at Vaughn; the semaphores weren't installed until some years later. The investigation concluded that he ignored a torpedo and the freight brakeman's lantern signal to stop. IIRC this was based solely on the testimony of the brakeman and was disputed by Casey's fireman, Sim Webb. There were lots of times that trainmen either didn't have enough time or were too lazy to go far enough back to adequately protect their stopped train which, to my mind at least, is what happened that night at Vaughn. There's no doubt that Casey was a ballast scorcher but I don't think he had a reputation for taking chances and unsafe train operation. I don't remember that his orders stated (as they should have) there was to be a saw by meet at Vaughn. If that was the case he had every reason to expect that the trains he was to meet would be safely in the siding and he would have a clear track. The fact that his fireman was able to jump off the engine and survive leads me to believe that Casey had big holed it upon hitting that torpedo and his train was slowing down before he rounded the curve and hit the stopped freight. All this leads me to think that the freight brakeman and possibly the dispatcher as well were more to blame for the wreck than was Casey. No doubt he was running fast since he had made up some lost time and was trying to get his train back on schedule which was expected of him by everybody from the Div Super down to his trainmaster. I may be wrong but I doubt at the time there were any speed restrictions other than those on some curves, at crossings of other RR's, through yard limits, etc.
Mark
Casey Jones was indeed known as a hot-rodder and his work record included a fair number of suspensions for unsafe operation. Getting to the truth of the matter of what actually happened at Vaughn is probably impossible since Jones was killed and Sim Webb would dispute the testimony of the brakemen from the freight train only at the risk of his life.
Thing is Mrs Jones even said to Flagman Newberry" Had you done your job my husband would be alive" Back in those days it was make time and if you did, good job. If not well.....
Mr Gurner did a great job of finding records and bringing the history to us.
From what I can recall from the tale and TT&TO rules, since the two trains in the siding were inferior trains, Jones likely would not have had orders relating to them or the fact that there would be a saw-by, since it was the obligation of the inferior trains to get in the clear before the time of a superior train. Not knowing how IC ran their railroad in the 1900's, he may or may not have had a straight meet order. If he held a straight meet order, he would have known that he had to meet two trains, not necessarily that they were both there.
The inferior trains (No. 53 and 32, I believe) would have had orders relating to any late operation of superior trains, but failing to clear the time as prescribed by the rules, the inferior trains had to be protected under the rules, which meant sending a flagman out.
As both trains had completed a saw by move for a northbound superior train which Jones would later meet, they then had to make a southward move to clear Jones and his train. In attempting to do so things went sour with the air hose problem, and Jones, in his mind, being the superior train, never expected to find the main track blocked on his time at the north end of the siding. Jones may have, through intuition, been prepared to stop at the south end, especially if a message had been thrown off to his train relating the saw by move when he met the northbound up the line (remember, Jones' train was in the hole at either Goodman or Pickens, not sure geographically) for this northbound.
Flagman Newberry did go back and successfully flag a southbound train running ahead of Jones' train, so it would appear that he was at least in position for that duty. Whether he had instructions to continue his protection, sloughed off his duties after the first southbound went through, whether the incessant whistling for the forward and back moves of the saw-by were minterpreted as a recall, or if Jones just ingored the signals is unknown.
Webb's testimony changed from that initially of stating that there were no torpedoes, to a testimony that protected Flagman Newberry and the other members of his crew. As stated in the Trains article, it is unclear if the prejudices of the era and the location played a role in that change in testimony or not.
4merroad4man From what I can recall from the tale and TT&TO rules, since the two trains in the siding were inferior trains, Jones likely would not have had orders relating to them or the fact that there would be a saw-by, since it was the obligation of the inferior trains to get in the clear before the time of a superior train.
From what I can recall from the tale and TT&TO rules, since the two trains in the siding were inferior trains, Jones likely would not have had orders relating to them or the fact that there would be a saw-by, since it was the obligation of the inferior trains to get in the clear before the time of a superior train.
Since it was impossible for the two inferior trains to be in the clear on the passing track Casey's orders should have stated it was to be a saw by meet so he would approach Vaughn prepared to stop at the South siding switch as required for the meet. He would expect the trains he was to meet to be in the clear at the North end of the passing track but since they weren't it was clearly Flagman Newberry's responsibility to protect the rear of his train. I think it's more likely Newberry was "short flagging" than that Casey missed or ignored his flag. Casey did make an emergency brake application and his train had slowed sufficiently for Sim Webb to jump clear before the crash. I don't think it was ever proven he braked in response to Newberry's flag or rounding the curve and seeing the caboose still on the main. Given the time and place it's almost certain more credence was given to the testimony of the white flagman than that of the black fireman.
When Newberry flagged the previous southbound train, the two trains on the siding were clear of the North siding switch. Newberry was in a position to protect the South siding switch, where the freight trains were fouling the main track. One account in the Treasury of Railroad Folklore story questions whether Newberry's torpedoes were for the South switch, not the North switch.
The diagrams in that story show Newberry beyond the location where he had his torpedoes at. So Casey went past Newberry, then went over the torpedoes. Possibly Newberry left his torpedoes in position for the south switch, then went further north to signal with his lantern when the trains in the siding sawed north.
Torpedoes are/were used to get the crew's attention for them to reduce speed and watch out for a flagman or obstruction. Without the torpedo's detonation, I could see a lone person with a lantern being missed. Casey could've been glancing over his gauges or reading his orders expecting the North switch to be clear.
All the accounts I've read say that Casey had been informed of having to saw-by trains at Vaughn. Whether alerted by train order, message or both about the saw-by, Casey having the superior train could've expected the North switch to be clear or properly protected if it was fouled.
The modern version of the flagging rules usually says for the flagman to go back a sufficient or prescribed distance, place his torpedoes than may return half the distance to whatever he's protecting. The closest rule book I have to this era is a CB&Q from Dec 1900. It's flagging rule says go back a sufficient distance to signal following trains. For the placement of torpedoes, it mentions needing to place them when recalled and returning to their train. I don't know what an IC book from that era says. From the modern perspective, Newberry may not have been providing proper protection, but from rules in effect at that time he may have been.
Jeff
If I recall the article correctly (I really should go back and re-read it!) there were actually three trains involved at Vaughn before Casey got there. I think the diagram in the article showed Vaughn to have two long sidings, one on each side of the main, so it was essentially a mile or two section of triple track. I think Casey's train was to come in from the north and stop at the station in Vaughn which was towards the south end of the 'triple track' section...so I assume any saw-by would have been done in such a way that the north end would be clear, and if the south was blocked, Casey would be stopping anyway before he got there. But I'm just going from memory for now.
One siding and a "business track." Two freights, 83 and 72 on the siding. They had sawed North to allow two sections of a passenger train, 1/26 and 2/26, to clear on the business track.
The air hose burst on 72 before they could saw back to the South, leaving 4 cars of 83 on the main.
jeffhergert One siding and a "business track." Two freights, 83 and 72 on the siding. They had sawed North to allow two sections of a passenger train, 1/26 and 2/26, to clear on the business track. The air hose burst on 72 before they could saw back to the South, leaving 4 cars of 83 on the main. Jeff
From the account in A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, we see that there were four trains in Vaughn that night before #1, the New Orleans Special, arrived. Two sections of #26 were in the short business track on the west side of the track, and two freights, #’s 83 (doubleheaded) and 72, were in the passing siding. #25, which was ahead of #1, had already been moved past the two freights by the first saw move, which left four cars and the caboose of #83 out on the main–and an air hose burst on #72 as the two trains were being moved to clear the north switch. It is possible that he had been told that he would be sawed past the freights, and believed that the north switch would be set for him, so he was prepared to stop at the south switch.
From my understanding there's no record of just what orders Jones was holding at the time of the wreck. He was heading for what was really a 'triple meet" with the added complication of sawing by the two freights. Even if he was correct to expect that the North switch should have been clear for him, he should still have planned to approach Vaughn at a speed that would have allowed him full control of his train. That implys starting to apply his brakes well before he passed flagman Newberry's position whether he was short flagging or not. In any event, the saw by would have required him to come to a full stop until the South switch was cleared. If he didn't know about the complex situation at Vaughn perhaps that's the dispatcher's fault. An alert dispatcher would have had a Copy 31 order waiting for him at the last station he passed through before arriving at Vaughn. Jones and his conductor would have had to stop, sign for that order, and acknowledge that they understood it before being allowed to proceed. Obviously nothing like this happened.
Casey had to give up the 638 when he transfered to passenger service, you wouldnt see a slower/low drivered 2-8-0 on passenger service
Caseys assigned engine, according to ICRR doccuments in my book on his life, was the 384, sister engine to the 382. When engineer Sam
Tate marked off sick, Casey doubled back on the south bound train using Sam's 382. He had the engine shop put his special whistle on the
engine for the run. That actual whistle is preserved at one of the museum's, I believe at Jackson, TN. One of my modeling era's is the ICRR at
the time of Caseys death. I have the 382, and a short of correct passenger train( MDC Overton cars) that are factory painted for the New Orleans
Fast Mail. I am working on a more correct consist at this time. It will be debated till the end of time whether flagman Newberry was at the proper
location or if he "short flagged" Casey. Only way to find out is when we make our journey to the promised land and ask the man at the throttle that
fatefull night.
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
Hmmm... 17 replies and no one with an answer to the initial question of whether the cracked bell from Vaughn is preserved and displayed. The history of the crash was not the question.
Beach Bill Hmmm... 17 replies and no one with an answer to the initial question of whether the cracked bell from Vaughn is preserved and displayed. The history of the crash was not the question. Bill
Actually the first responder noted that if the poster searched under the link he provided, it stated that all the artifacts (which I assume include the bell) had been moved to Water Valley MS.
Well, I'll take the thread in a slightly different direction: What per centage of the American public knows who Casey Jones was or did? Or even which business he was in?
For that matter, I wonder how any of us first became aware of Casey Jones? Was it through a book? the song? a Disney cartoon? I myself cannot remember never knowing about Casey Jones.
Who is a more famous person in American folklore? Casey Jones or John Henry?
Some years ago I rode through Vaughn on the City of New Orleans and it raised the hairs on my arms to roll right past the spot where Casey Jones rode "his six-eight (sic) wheeler...to fame." Long live the story and memory of Casey Jones...and John Henry.
At the time of the accident, Casey Jones' death was not much of a news event and probably would have remained relatively unknown except for the fact that a song was written about the event, similar to "The Wreck of The Old 97".
Yes there was a popular song at the time about "Johnny Jones" that was the template for "Casey Jones" folk song written by an IC worker who knew Casey. The song eventually was discovered and formally published by as I recall a vaudevillian passing thru Mississippi whp heard the song.
Starting in the 1950's our local Mpls-St.Paul kids TV show was "Lunch with Casey" starring Roger Awsumb as Casey Jones. His original sidekick, Joe the Cook, eventually left to take a similar job as a clown on kids TV in the Seattle area, and he was replaced by 5' tall former Ice Capades star Lynn Dwyer as Roundhouse Rodney. Every day Casey came into...well, the yard office I guess...and had his lunch, showed cartoons and did skits.
http://www.pavekmuseum.org/casey.html
BTW I wonder how many people nowadays realize Casey Jones and John Henry were real people?? A few years ago it came to light that a top All-Star ballplayer of the 1980's-90's was well into his career before he found out Babe Ruth wasn't a cartoon character.
wjstix: Not being from the Twin Cities, I've never before heard of this guy, but I have followed your links and I can see why he was so popular. It sounds as if he had a great act.
It reminded me that during the 1950's Cleveland a similar kids' noontime show featuring Ron Penfound as "Captain Penny." So that leads me to wonder how many US television markets in the 1950's had noontime kids' shows with some sort of "railroad man" as the act? I'll bet there were more than just Minneapolis & Cleveland.
Then we can wonder why.
NKP guy wjstix: Not being from the Twin Cities, I've never before heard of this guy, but I have followed your links and I can see why he was so popular. It sounds as if he had a great act. It reminded me that during the 1950's Cleveland a similar kids' noontime show featuring Ron Penfound as "Captain Penny." So that leads me to wonder how many US television markets in the 1950's had noontime kids' shows with some sort of "railroad man" as the act? I'll bet there were more than just Minneapolis & Cleveland. Then we can wonder why.
To start with the last point, I don't know how many had railroaders or hoboes etc, but back then virtually every major TV market (and many small ones) had their own local kids TV star: Casey Jones (Mpls-St.Paul) Bozo the Clown (Chicago) etc. I think the last one was in South Dakota...Captain something-or-other, an astronaut type guy who lasted from the fifties into the eighties.
In fact, many young folks today (you young whippersnappers!) would be amazed at how much locally produced TV was around during the fifties and sixties. On Saturday afternoons 40 years ago we had back to back 15 min. TV shows, "Sherm Bowen's World of Aviation" and "The Woodcraft Hobby Show". The latter was a TV show produced by Minneapolis' premier hobby shop, and featured model trains, boats, and airplanes each week.
BTW Rog Awsumb/Casey Jones was one of four close pals who played college football together at Macalester College in the 1940's. Three of them ended up becoming children's TV show hosts, the other one didn't turn out so well - he went into politics and became Vice President of the US...Fritz "Crazy Legs" Mondale.
In L.A. we had the Engineer Bill show.He had a Green Light Red Light game in which kids would drink thier milk when Engineer Bill said Green Light and stop when he said Red Light.
For some reason this a.m. I had a song in my head from back when I was a kid (1960's), "The Blue Water Line", but I can't remember if it was on the Casey Jones show locally, or on Captain Kangaroo.
It went something like:Blue Water, Blue Water, Blue Water Line
Blue Water, Blue Water, Blue Water Line.
If you can give a nickel, if you can give a dime,
if everybody gave then
we could save that
Blue Water Line.
From the Official Report of the ensuing Investigation:
"Train No. 1 met train No. 2 at Goodman Station, No. 1 arriving at Goodman on time and taking the siding; it left there 5 minutes late, and at the time of the collision was two minutes late. Trains 1st 72 and 83 would not have been at Vaughan Station for train No.1 but for the fact that No. 83, while pulling into the siding to let No. 25 pass, pulled out two draw-bars; which resulted in delay and prevented No. 83 going beyond Vaughan Station for the two sections of No. 26 and No. 1.
/s/ A.S. Sullivan, General Supt.
Re-copied Paducah 3-18-42
http://www.trainweb.org/caseyjones/report.html
Judging by this, it looks like Casey had no reason to think there would be need of a saw at Vaughn. He quite possibly never knew that all these trains had converged on that station and were there as he approached. Was there an operator on duty at that time of night at Vaughn? Or a means that the Conductor of the train that was delayed by the broken drawbars could notify the dispatcher of the delay and therefore the congregation at Vaughn (and the need of a saw-by for #1)? Or even time enough to do this before #1 arrived. Even if this alert had occurred, Casey may have already gone beyond the last station that could have copied this message and given it to him. The fact that Casey was approaching Vaughn at a high rate of speed leads me to believe that either he and his fireman had fallen asleep, or they had no plans for a saw there (or both). Casey knew both sections of #26 were safely in the hole at Vaughn, since they had gone in there for #2 which Casey had already met at Goodman. And his orders said he would meet #26 there. Beyond all this, there is the question of why the flagging and torpedoes were insufficient to prevent the collision. Were they sleeping? Was their attention diverted as the fireman testified? Were the warnings not placed far enough to the rear of #83 to allow #1 time to stop? Who knows. Probably not all the truth was told at the investigation. And there had to be that curve right there too.
IIRC the sidings at Vaughn were quite long and the depot was near the far end, like a mile away or so from where the train was stuck at the other end of the sidings. Casey would have had plenty of space to slow down and stop before the station at Vaughn. Unfortunately the only way for the crew to communicate what happened would be for someone to run to the depot and try to get a telegraph message to a depot on Casey's route. Of course this is before automatic block signals, so there were no red signals to warn him.
Unlikely he was asleep. Remember the sidings started at the end of an S-curve, so he couldn't see the caboose and cars ahead of him until he was very close to them. He didn't just plow into them full speed - if he had, he probably wouldn't have been the only one killed. There's been much conjecture over just how far the torpedos were set from the point of the collision, it may be the crew of the train ahead just didn't have time to get far enough back to give him sufficient warning. It's been noted that he did an almost superhuman job of slowing his train's speed when he saw what was going to happen, from like 60 MPH down to 25-30 in a very short stretch of track.
You may be thinking of Captain Jim (and his rocket ship) on KXJB-TV, channel 4, Fargo, ND. Although I didn't think that lasted into the 80s.
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