N&W in 1911--Explosives

[NW Mailing List]

Did it occur to anyone that the car labeled explosives in  this  article 
might have happened to be EMPTY at the time ?
 
Neil K. Yerger
 
_audreyly at aol.com_ (mailto:audreyly at aol.com) 
 
 
In a message dated 8/4/2010 6:49:46 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 21,  1911
 
EXPLOSIVES HANDLED WITH GREAT  VIGOR
------
Bumping Car Was Labeled As Containing Pent-up  Disturbance Producer
    Bluefield narrowly escaped a terrible  catastrophe Sunday when a 
freight car labeled in glaring letters, "explosives"  crashed into the bumping 
post at the end of the freight shed almost opposite  Bland street.  The car was 
lifted from its wheels by the terrible force  of the impact, but 
fortunately the contents of the car were not disturbed to  such an extent that an 
explosion could result.  A number of people viewed  the car as it settled 
against the bumper and many of their faces blanched when  they thought of the 
damage which might have been done if the contents of the  car had exploded.  At 
the time when the accident happened a number of  people were walking the 
street and a crowd was standing around that busy  corner.  If an explosion had 
occurred it is likely that all of the store  fronts on Princeton avenue in 
the neighborhood would have been ruined and it  is more than likely that a 
number of people would have received serious  injuries if they had escaped 
death.
    The city of Bluefield has no ordinance with  regard to the handling of 
explosives and although under the old councils there  were several attempts 
to pass ordinances relative to this subject a lobby  strong enough to 
prevent the passage of such ordinances was always  present.  Nearly every day in 
this city wagon loads of dynamite and  powder pass through the streets [and] 
the constant danger from the  open handling of these explosives has never 
been provided against.
------
[The N&W 's Bluefield freight station in 1911 was  located along the north 
side of Princeton Avenue near its intersection with  Bland Street, the heart 
of the business section of Bluefield where an  explosion would have been 
catastrophic.  Two later mishaps did result in  explosions in N&W's Bluefield 
yards, however.  On January 26, 1916,  nine cars ran away from a switching 
crew in the East Yard and crashed into a  car containing black powder.  The 
resulting explosion injured five men  and blew out windows in buildings 
several blocks from the site of the  explosion, and it propelled burning hay from 
one of the cars for hundreds  of yards, setting several small fires on 
housetops and in woods.  Later,  on June 23, 1923, a seemingly greater explosion 
occurred in the West  Yard, when a train of 70 cars ran away and crashed 
into a car of black powder,  which exploded and set cars and their contents on 
fire.   Although  no one was injured upwards of fifty cars were involved in 
the derailment  and much of the electrification's overhead wires in the 
vicinity  were destroyed. (The 1916 and 1923 info is from the newly published 
book,  "Wheels Aflame, Whistle Wide Open," available from the N&WHS  
Commissary.)]
 
Gordon  Hamilton


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