Just ran across this from my scrapbook: Filed 15:20 EST copyright, Assimilated Press (AP) Massive Chemical Train Wreck Near Lowell Lowell, MA, March 19, 1957--The first 24 cars of a Pennsylvanian RR freight train derailed and pancaked approaching a bridge over the Merrimack River at about 1 PM today. At this time there appears to be no fatalities. The 60-car freight was carrying a variety of chemicals, many of them deemed as hazardous. Authorities say they have not determined if any of the cars are leaking, so they have not ordered an evacuation of nearby residences or businesses. The derailed cars block both the north and south mains between Boston and Portsmouth, and struck two engines on a siding, tipping one on its side. Pennsylvania RR officials said that they hoped to open at least one of the main lines before midnight. At this time, passengers on through trains are being bused between the two cities. Added: 16:33 EST Railroad officials say that the train, traveling at about 35 miles per hour, appears to have derailed on a new guardrail designed to protect the bridge. "I guess it did its job," said district supervisor Pete Nolan. "Except it was supposed to re-rail bad cars, not derail them. It's back to the drawing board." Added: 17:02 EST Caption: An aerial view of the massive chemical track wreck.
Wow! Anybody hurt? Hazmat? (Probably no hazmat in those days.) Anyone out there with a mop and broom?
Oops! How'd anyone manage to do that in N scale! That's a major mess! You'll need to take away their throttle. Send 'em back to the crew lounge, and relegate to serving coffee.... Boxcab E50
Flash, Actually, lots of hazmat in those days, except we didn't realize it. Lots of stuff just poured into the ground--PCBs, tetrachlorides, and other "cleaners." Our biggest problems in the cleanup of nuclear weapons sites are from the early 60s. Hemi, What really happened is just as I described it. I got a bunch of the shorty cars from Wig-Wag this week (2 of each), and assembled the train near the top of the layout, as there wasn't much room on the mid- and lower-levels. I picked my best engines to bring it down. No problems! Until the lead car hit the C40 guardrail I installed to prevent these incidents. I'm guessing the pressure was too much for the shorty, and it hooked the guardrail. From there is was just bang-bang-bang! This is an unposed picture.
Boxcab50: It really just happened. The downhill grade is just a little too steep. The owner-operator has been suspended until he can figure out a better way to prevent this, Doofus, The accordian effect happens when there is a curve at the bottom of a too-steep grade. This ain't the first!
Well-said. Pete, I wasn't trying to discredit your story, I just have never had that sort of a pileup, that naturally happened! Thanks for the chuckle!
Pete: Can we be jealous of each other's foul ups? When mine misbehave, they usually just fall over on their sides and look stupid, kinda like the expression on my face I s'pose.
Pete- That's what happens when the yardmaster orders a passenger diesel A&B units to pull freight. Hemi- There was urinanalysis of the engineer. He used the pool, which turned a deep blue. This, too, is now under investigation.
Sorry, guys, I had pulled the harbor to work on the decks above, and really didn't have time to Photoshop in anything better.
Nice photograph. Good newspaper story. I was about eighteen months old when that happened. Despite my age, I was a precocious kid, but I do not remember my father's ever talking about such a wreck. If, in your universe the PRR took over the B&M, and did a massive re-alignment, the chief of the track crews should also have been sacked. The North-South Main of the B&M comes from Boston, goes through Melrose and through the Andovers and Ballardvale. It goes through Lawrence on the South bank of the Merrimack (although there is a branch that crosses the river into Lawrence to serve what industries are left there) then proceeds to Bradford. From Bradford it crosses the Merrimack into Haverhill then proceeds north through New Hampshire and into Maine to Portland. The only place that I know that the North-South main of the B&M crosses the Merrimack is between Bradford and Haverhill. That is the point where a branch used to switch out of the main to serve the lumber yard and the Boxboards on the Bradford side. The branch that served the shoe factories switched out further north and on the Haverhill side of the river. The particular line of the B&M that goes to Lowell does not cross the Merrimack there. The station is on the South Bank. The line than proceeds north and west, following pretty close to the course of the Merrimack and crosses into New Hampshire. It follows the river through Nashua, passes the Busch brewery in Merrimac, heads north then finally does cross the river just to the west of the Manchester, New Hampshire airport. The B&M has two main lines: the North-South that goes from Boston, through Haverhill and to Portland; the East-West that goes from Boston through Fitchburg, Gardner, Deerfield, North Adams then making a hook into the South-west corner of Vermont before terminating in Troy, New York. The line through Lowell was a secondary main. When it was built, Lowell, Nashua, Hudson and Merrimac had mills and other important businesses that contributed significantly to the B&M's revenues. The B&M had all sorts of secondaries and branches throughout Northern New England that served numerous mills, factories and other businesses. The factories and mills began to leave in the 1940s. **EDITORIAL NOTE** Sorry, PN, I did not catch that reply to the guy who remarked about the PRR in Massachusetts the first time around. I am to assume, then that your line of the PRR does cross the Merrimack at Lowell then crosses New Hampshire to Portsmouth. Does it terminate there or does it continue to Portland, Maine? [ March 20, 2005, 12:32 AM: Message edited by: brokemoto ]
Do any of you Guilford/New England modellers know if the B&M's East-West main is still intact? I never knew much about it beyond Athol, as I never lived in that part of the state. After posting my initial reply, curiosity got the better of me and I tried to find the line. It appears to have been severed in a few places around Greenfield and North Adams and Bennington, Vermont. What is left appears to be connected to the North-South secondary that ran from Springfield and through Northampton, Massachusetts or to B&A branches. When I was a graduate student in Amherst, Massachusetts, the B&M tracks were still there, although they were obviously out of service. That line switched out in Northampton, somewhere. The passenger station was still there (it had become a feed store) and the house tracks were, as well, although they were overgrown. A rusting boxcar was parked on one of them, obviously forgotten when the line was abandoned. Someone had parked a string of boxcars on the railroad bridge over the Connecticut river and they stayed a long time, eventually someone did move them.
Thanks for all the info, brokemoto. As I've said before, I'm more of a modeler than a researcher, so I appreciate real life info. As I get deeper into the hobby, I'm learning more about the real thing. Yes, it does go on to Portland, although that is off the layout. The bridges on the layout actually cross the inlet to Great Bay, ala Rte 95 today. They are not models of those bridges, however, as they come from many places instead. For the news release, I first typed Andover, then Haverhill, then "Near Lowell." It seems I can get a train of almost any length up that grade, Accumates willing, but have problems coming back down.
The B&M Merrimack crossing at Bradford and Haverhill has no decline leading to or from it. The railroad is on a ridge and on built up land as it runs through Ward Hill and Bradford. It is on elevated trackage through what is left of Downtown Haverhill. I was a boy on the Bradford side of the river, my grandmother lived there until she died in 1984; I visited her frequently. My father used to take me to watch trains at various places on the Busted and Mined. We always rode the Busted and Mangled to Boston for Red Sox games. One of my vague memories of steam comes from the Busted and Mined. I could even walk or ride my bicycle from my house to the Bradford station, or to the lumber yard. My great uncle's bakery was on Main Street just before the stone road bridge across the Merrimack. The branch that served the lumber yard and the Boxboards went under that bridge. There are some low hills around Lowell, so you could better justify a decline to cross the Merrimack at Lowell than at Haverhill.
