N&W in 1904 -- Wreck Averted

[NW Mailing List]

DISASTROUS WRECK NARROWLY AVERTED
                                                ------
Passenger Train Stopped Within a Few Feet of Freight
                                                ------
    A disastrous wreck was narrowly averted Sunday afternoon, on the Clinch Valley division, when passenger train No. 26, running at a high rate of speed, was suddenly brought to a standstill with the pilot of the engine almost touching the caboose of a slow freight, the conductor of which, it is reported, had failed to send back a flag to protect the rear of his train.
    Our informant says that No. 26, under a full head of steam, was just rounding a sharp curve, when the engineer caught his first glimpse of the freight.  The passenger engine and the freight caboose were then not more than two train lengths apart, and a collision seemed inevitable.  The engineer reversed his engine and applied the emergency brakes, but entertained no little hope of stopping his train in time to avoid a smash-up, that when his duty was fully discharged he jumped from his engine at the peril of his life, his fireman following suit.  They landed in a mudhole, and beyond a mudbath sustained no serious injuries.
    It is said that the conductor of the freight was so dazed when he saw the flying passenger train moving down upon him that he stood spellbound in the door of the caboose, making no effort to get away, until the panting engine finally came to a stop almost within reach of his hand.
    Had the passenger engine run twenty feet further it would have crashed into the caboose, add fifty feet more would, in all probability, have meant a veritable harvest of death.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 15, 1904

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20071204/1ee2148f/attachment.html>