The famous brave engineer Casey Jones wreck modeled in HO scale

[Anonymous]

Hi,
First please forgive me if you have read or seen this post over in the layout section. I just thought that some modelers might not see the post over there and maybe it may be viewed more approapriately here. Also here is some more info on this diorama. It started out with a piece of board 12 inches wide by 30 inches long. The same dimensions of a 20 gallon fi***ank. It could be used for a dust cover. The engine is a rivarossi ho scale. The cars are mostly made by roundhouse. I hope you enjoy these pics and to see more you can go here.....http://www.railimages.com/gallery/markparsons Feel free to vote or coment on this item. Due to the limited space most of my work is sold to put my daughter thru school. If the museum does not take this it will go on sale on e bay for Christmas. So enjoy the pics........Mark

[railman]

hey, this is neat.

[AntonioFP45]

Outstanding work!

At first I thought "How morbid" but then this is a great module that captures a tragic moment in history. Deserves to be on display in a museum.

This module also teaches a valueable lesson regarding the consequences when safety rules are broken. We do hail Casey as a hero since he hung in there to the end instead of abandoning his post, but we can't forget that he did violate the safety rules and paid the ultimate price.

[Anonymous]

He wasn't "Brave", he was reckless and and his recklessness cost people their lives.

[Anonymous]

The only life that was lost was his.

[Wdlgln005]

The Casey Jones Home still exists in Jackson, TN. It moved to a suburban location not far from I-40. Travelers between Memphis and Nashville may find it to be a place to stop on their way. The home is a simple frame structure. An old Clinchfield engine sits in place of the IC. A display inside shows how the wreck occured on a bad curve on the IC mainline.

The sad part is that the Casey Jones Home is nowhere near a rail line.

[Anonymous]

Very nice modeling. my favorite railroad hero is Jesus Garcia, basicly the Casey Jones of Mexico. Since I am part Mexican, this interests me greatly. if anyone would like to hear about Jesus Garcia, drop me an E-mail. Again, great Diorama !

[lupo]

Nice setup Mark, [tup]

Can anyone tell me the story behind this accident, as I am not familiar with this part of American Railroad History

[Wdlgln005]

Born March 14, 1863

You will note that the tombstone pictured below gives his birth year as 1864 but according to the information written in the family Bible by his Mother he was born in 1863. The tombstone was donated by two out of town railroad enthusiasts who accidentally got the birth year wrong.

Moved to Cayce, Kentucky as a boy--received nickname from this town but spelled it "Casey"

Moved to Jackson to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Later went to work for the Illinois Central Railroad in Jackson.



Married Janie Brady from Jackson. They had 3 children--two boys and one girl. At the time of Casey's death, son Charles was 12, daughter Helen was 10 and son John Lloyd was 4.



Casey was killed in train wreck in Vaughan, Mississippi, April 30, 1900 at 3:52 a.m. The train had left from the Poplar Street Station in Memphis on its way to Canton, Mississippi. He was the only one killed in the wreck. Casey stayed with the train to slow it down as much as possible and thus it is believed that lives of passengers were saved from injury and possible death.

Sim Webb was Casey's fireman who Casey told to jump moments before the wreck occurred.

Casey is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery on Hardee Street in East Jackson.

www.caseyjones.com

Copied from Casey Jones museum website. ya'll come visit?
Ya'll gettin hungry for some vittles?

[lupo]

Thanks for the link Glenn!

[IRONROOSTER]

Here's another site http://www.watervalley.net/users/caseyjones/casey.htm with a fuller account. The ballad made him famous of course. I think of him as the symbol of the railroaders who lost their lives at a time when railroading was more dangerous than it is now.
Enjoy
Paul

[cacole]

Yes, according to a show on the History Channel, Casey was running late and running at full throttle. He disregarded flagmen with red lanterns who had been sent out to warn him to stop because he was not watching the track, and by the time he realized what was about to happen it was too late. The Fireman, Sim Webb, saw the last of the flagmen and warned Casey to slow down, but by then he was within 100 feet of the stalled train and was going over 80 MPH.

[Virginian]

Very interesting, but I must say I don't like train wrecks. Of course Casey's and Steve's (of the Wreck of the Ol' 97) are famous and true, and that just makes them more tragic to me. There is a restaurant called the 'Wreck of the Ol' 97 Restaurant' on US 29 South of Lynchburg close to where 97 left the rails and I have eaten there and enjoyed looking at all the old photographs, but then it always left me sad. While Casey missed a signal, Steve apparently got labeled careless because it made for better song lyrics. While the song had him "rolling downgrade making 90 miles an hour" the official report stated that "train 97 was approaching the trestle at 30 to 35 miles an hour when a flange on one of the outboard engine wheels broke, causing the train to leave the tracks approximately 40 feet before the trestle and thereafter continuing on, plunging into the 75 foot deep ravine".