I just couldn't help but repeat this one. This was a postcard sold by the Little Falls, NY Historical Society, of the 1940 Lake Shore Limited wreck. 31 people died. Jim Fitzgerald Collection
That wreck picture upsets me every time I see it. I don't remember what Jim told us caused the wreck. I'm sure he remembers because he was there at the time. OK, so he was a little young to be allowed out of the house without parental guidance and help, but still......:tb-tongue:
LOL Yeah, Hank, I couldn't even stand up in my walker yet, but then, did we even have walkers back then? Hmm, might need one soon, come to think of it. Roger and Hank, the official cause of the wreck was reported as "excessive speed entering the curve," which was slow ordered to 45 mph. The Lake Shore Limited entered the curve at 61 mph. Comments by Road Foreman of Engines Bayreuther, who was riding in the cab and survived, indicated that the throttle was closed suddenly in the midst of the curve. That probably caused the slack to run in and shove the back of the engine off the tracks where it hit a block wall, and as you can see from the photo, chaos ensued with the trailing passenger cars. There was all kinds of conjecture about who closed the throttle, Bayreuther or Jesse Earl, the engineer who died a few hours after the crash, trapped in the cab. I wasn't thinking about the fact that the 70th anniversary of the wreck comes up on April 19, as we were in a more celebratory mood for my wife's birthday on April 16 and the arrival of our younger daughter on the 15th to help celebrate. I have some graphic photos of cars involved in the wreck that I don't think I ever posted here. I will find them and add them to this thread. :tb-sad:
Hank, if the photo of the locomotive bothers you, these are even worse and I have refrained from publishing them for a long time. They are attributable to variously the Utica Daily Press, Gregorka photos, and others, but the statute of limitations is long past. They were sent to me by a Walter Schoenborn, at the time, in the '90's living in Florida. I think he said his father was supposed to be the engineer on this train, but he marked off the board and was replaced by Jesse Earl. Copies of these were displayed at various locations around town when I was a kid, mostly in the adult watering holes. This one, in particular, was related to me as a kid that the rail shown impaled some passenger inside the car. I didn't need to know that. Look at how this car was ripped apart. Same car, close up.
Jim, those certainly are graphic photos and clearly show the damage of kinetic energy as defined by E=MV^2, with V @ 61mph (90 fps), and M @ many Kilotons, which never fails to upset me because accidents are preventable by one or more of those invloved. What comes to mind, especially today with yesterday's death of the Polish President and his entourage, is the self-imposed emotional pressure on a pilot, engineer, etc. by circumstances beyond their control. ABC's John Nance, retired pilot from a Class 1 airline, commented this evening that the Polish pilot may have felt it necessary to overrule the Russian ATC recommendation to divert to his alternate due to fog, because he was carrying possibly the most important cargo in his career to an equally important meeting. It is possible that Engineer Earl may have been running behind schedule and allowed himself to overreact to the pressure of having RFE Bayreuther in the cab. Merely conjecture, mind you, but we humans are a complex, yet emotionally frail bunch, doncha know.....:tb-embarrassed:
I have probably posted this one before, but it's a photo of J-1e 5315 in better days before being written off after the accident. The only Hudson ever wrecked beyond rebuilding. This photo from Bob Spaugh collection. I don't know why my scanner cuts off the top of these, guess no contrast with the sky. :tb-sad:
I hope I'm not rehashing information already shared on this topic but there is a book on this wreck called "Night of Disater"(I will have to look again to be totally sure). I purchased it at the 2009 ARS Springfield show. Soft cover about $10.00. It is a very complete account including some very graphic photos of trapped bodies so be aware. There is also a VHS tape of train wrecks with a segment on this wreck as well. I will have to check the title later. I got that about 15 years ago. This has always been an interesting topic for me because I used to live in Mohawk, NY very near Little Falls. Both my parents went to see the aftermath as teenagers. My Dad also worked on a track crew when they relocated the curve a few years later.
You are not rehashing anything there. I have two copies of "Night of Disaster," and spent years trying to track down co-author Lucinda Parker. Finally found her in Las Vegas. She had written some other historical articles on the Little Falls and Dolgeville local. What years did you live in Mohawk? I watched that Gulf Curve realignment all through 1947 and remember being fascinated by the big Euclid earth movers and all the steam shovels and cranes. I wrote an article on the realignment which was published by the NYCSHS in the First Quarter 2005 NYC Headlight magazine. Boy, that was a long time ago. :tb-biggrin:
