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I derailed one time and that was enough for me....Sept. 28, 1903[;)] Running too fast on old poorly installed track can cause problems. [B)] [img]http://www.talkeetna.com/Reviews/Old97/Old97.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.sessions-station.com/Wrecks/medium_05%20Wreck%20of%20the%20Old%2097.jpg[/img] Wreck of Old 97 - Thought some of you may enjoy this. [:D] http://www.salisburypost.com/area/284537876723188.php This photo was taken within an hour after the Old 97 crashed in 1903. By Buddy Gettys, For the Salisbury Post The summer lingered on into fall. The trees were beginning to show various colors, but under a clear blue sky, the temperature reached the mid 80s by early afternoon. It was Sept. 28, 1903, in Danville, "The heart of Southside, Virginia." John Wiley and Ethel Faust picnicked on a grassy hill overlooking Still House railroad trestle, which also offered a clear view of the Dan River and the Riverside Cotton Mill, where John worked for $4 a week. The trestle had been there for almost 30 years, built in 1874 and named from the old Still House on the creek bank that made good Danville whisky. It was Sunday and John's only day off. In November, he would turn 16. Seventy miles north, Southern mail train No. 97 crossed the James River Bridge. The train has just taken on a new crew at Union Station in Monroe for the next leg of its run — 168 miles to Spencer, N.C. Old 97 had a reputation for speed but was 52 minutes behind schedule this day. Earlier that morning, Old 97 had been held up for an hour in Washington, waiting on a late mail train from the north. Engine No. 1102, a ten-wheeler, pulled the train. In railroad jargon, that is a 4-6-0 Baldwin Class F-14 locomotive. It weighed 160,000 pounds and had a wooden cab. The train consisted of two postal cars, an express car and one baggage car. It had an average speed of 37 1/2 mph, running between Washington and Atlanta, including stops and slowing down for catch stations. Its top speed had been recorded at 90 mph. Because Old 97 was late pulling into Monroe, the regular crew had been dispatched to another train. Joseph "Steve" Broady of Saltville, Va., got the assignment as the train engineer on Old 97. Others on the five-man crew were: Conductor Thomas Blair of Spencer; Fireman Albion Clapp of Gibsonville, N.C.; Apprentice Fireman John Hodge of Raleigh, N.C.; Brakeman James Mooney, also of Raleigh. When Old 97 stopped briefly at Franklin Junction in Lynchburg, 17-year-old Westworth Armistead, working for Southern Express Co., came aboard to check the locks on the mailbags and remove and add valuables to the safe. Broady gunned the train out of the station before young Armistead could get off. Back in Danville at the Still House trestle, John Wiley began to feel that something was wrong. The train by which everyone set their timepieces was very late. Normally, the train would cross the trestle at exactly 1:50. John checked his pocket watch; it was already pass 2:30. Minutes later, John and Ethel heard the train coming in the distance. Its whistle was screaming. They stood 50 yards from the trestle. Seventy-seven years later, in 1980, 93-year-old John Wiley told Jim Watson, a reporter for the Danville Register & Bee, that when he first heard the train, "it sounded like Southern train No. 97, and it was coming through the Henry Street crossing. I knowed that when I heard that whistle, it was going too fast." He was right. At 2:42 p.m., Old 97, at the end of a three- mile downgrade from White Oak Mountain, it approached Still House trestle running flat out. "I figured he was running about 85–90 miles per hour", Wiley said, "too fast to make that curve on the trestle." Engineer Broady tried to slow the train, but it was too late. He took the curve throwing 80 tons of iron against the flanges on the outside wheels that were hanging onto the track. As the flange on one wheel broke off, the mail train jumped the track, riding the cross ties for about 80 feet and then dropping abruptly, smashing into the corner of the mill and ending right side up in the muddy ravine of Cherrystone Creek. The train carried 50 feet of the trestle with it, and the impact reduced the wooden rail cars to splinters. Ten men — all five trainmen and five postal clerks — died instantly. Six postal employees were injured, and one died a week later. W.F. Pinckney, an express messenger from Charlotte, walked away unscratched. Seven crates of canaries were busted, and the birds flew above the steam vapors and filled the air space over the wreckage. "You could hear the racket all over town," John Wiley said later. Wentworth Armistead's body was found buried in the creek bank a month later. He had been reported missing in Lynchburg. Total dead: 11. Southern Vice President William Finley in Atlanta immediately issued a statement: "The track between Lynchburg and Danville, in addition to the structure of the wooden trestle, had recently been inspected and was in excellent condition. An eye witness report said that mail train No. 97 was going too fast to make the curve." John Wiley and Ethel Faust were the only eyewitnesses to the wreck. Two years prior to the wreck, Southern Railway became one of the first railroads to sign a contract with the federal government. The contract called for moving mail between Washington and Atlanta for $140,000 annually but included a stiff penalty for every 30 minutes the mail was late. The idea was to give an incentive to move the mail fast. Joseph Broady and Old 97 did just that. Four days after the wreck, a temporary spur line was laid to haul the engine from the ravine. Towed to the Southern Railway Shops in Spencer, employees rebuilt Engine No. 1102, and it remained in service until 1930, when it was scrapped. John Wiley walked away from the crowd at the wreckage and said, "To these railroad people, this won't nothing." He was almost right again. The accident would be little known today had it not been for a ballad that immortalized the wreck. Several individuals claimed authorship of the "Wreck of Old 97," that used the tune of the old song, "The Ship That Never Returned." In 1924, Vernon Dalhart's version of the song sold more that 6,000,000 records, making it the first country music song to sell more that a million copies. Johnny Cash recorded the song in the 1970s. "Well, they handed him his orders in Monroe, Virginia, sayin' 'Steve, you are way behind time.' "This is not 38 but Old 97 — You must put' er in Spencer on time." The song and several newspapers exaggerated the story. Headlines of the Richmond Leader said, "Mail Train Makes Wild Leap." The article said, "Old 97 leaped 50 feet from the trestle and fell 75 feet to the creek bank." Southern Railway's accident report showed a sketch of the trestle, indicating it was 325 feet long and 43 feet, 8 inches at its highest point from the creek bank. Pictures taken shortly after the wreck show the engine lying within 10 to 15 feet from the base of the trestle. Therefore, the train fell after going off the trestle a few feet. Investigators estimated Old 97's speed at 55 mph. (About 2 miles before entering the trestle, a sign warned, TRESTLE AHEAD, SPEED LIMIT 10 MPH). The drive wheels on the locomotive had been reversed, indicating Broady made a desperate effort to slow or stop the train. In January 1907, Congress refused to renew the mail train appropriation, saying, "The regular passenger trains get mail to the southern states fast enough." On Sept. 24, 1964, J.J. Dunlap, one of the few and the last living survivor, died at age 85 in Washington. His casket displayed a picture of the young Dunlap standing beside Old 97. Thirty-three-year-old Fireman Albion C. "Buddy" Clapp, who hailed from Gibsonville, near Burlington, is buried at Springwood Presbyterian Church cemetery in Whitsett, N.C. His grave marker indicates he was "Killed in the wreck of train 97. John Wiley lived to be 98 years old. Every town has its big story. This one belongs to Danville. But the wreck and words of the song certainly entwined Spencer in more ways than one. The song said to "Put 'er in Spencer on time" or make up the lost time at any cost. Conductor James T. Blair was a deacon at Spencer Presbyterian Church. Broady, the engineer, spent nights in Spencer while he was on the road. He may have spent his last night there before being dispatched to Monroe, Va., to take over the run of Old 97. Locomotive 1102 sat in the Spencer Shops yard on Friday night and headed for Washington on Saturday morning before the wreck on Sunday. Broady's brother, G.A. Broady, a road foreman with Southern for 51 years, lived in Spencer. Engineer W.A. Kizziah of Spencer was scheduled to take over as the engineer on Old 97 when it reached Spencer on a leg to Greenville, S.C. Spencer Shops dispatched a crew and derricks to the wreckage to help move it from the ravine. At the wreck site, the track bed and trestle no longer exist, victims of time and kudzu. There is often talk of building a museum in the area where the wreck occurred. If a museum is built, an excursion train running between the wreck site and the N.C. Transportation Museum at the historic Spencer Shops may be an idea to kick around. Call it the "Old 97" and "Put 'er in Spencer on time." *** Writer's note: Researching information on this story was as much fun as writing it. I met a number of interesting people, some who recounted me stories their ancestors told them. I found a lot of conflicting information, but in most cases, I was able to work out the reason for the conflict and find the facts. Many thanks to the Danville Information and Visitors Bureau, the Danville Public Library, the Danville Register and Bee and the Rowan County Library History Room. Also information was gathered from Katie Letcher Lyle's book "Scalded to Death by the Steam;" a paper titled "The Wreck of Old 97" by Raymond B. Carneal; the Norfolk Southern Railway; and Springwood Presbyterian Church in Whitsett. Buddy Gettys is the former mayor of Spencer and writes occasionally for the Salisbury Post. Happy Steaming!!
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