FW: May 18, 1986- N&W 611: The Great Dismal Swamp Derailment Footage

[NW Mailing List]

For those of you that may be too young to remember this accident,
This video courtesy of the NWHS Mailing List. I Googled this info about
this accident. According to Wikipedia this is the story. With Robert
Claytor, president of The Norfolk and Western, at the throttle of the N&W
J611 there was a massive derailment in the Great Dismal Swamp at milepost
N16. Milepost N16 is clearly shown in the video. It was coming from
Norfolk, Va. The date was Sunday May 18, 1986.  The Employee Appreciation
passenger train had nearly 1,000 employees and their families on
board. Thankfully there were no fatalities but the seriously injured were
airlifted to nearby hospitals in Norfolk for treatment. This video is 17.02
minutes long with no sound. That's unfortunate since it would have been
very interesting to hear what was being said. Thankfully we do have the
video. Thirteen of the twenty-three passenger cars were derailed. I don't
know which passenger cars survived to ride the rails again. I'm sure that
information is available . After you view this video I'm sure that you'll
have to agree that it was a miracle that there were no fatalities! It
proves that traveling by rail is one of the safest modes of transportation!
In September 1994, while switching, there was another derailment in
Lynchburg, Va. involving the passenger cars of an excursion consist that
the J611 was to pull the next day. This damaged several cars causing a
shortage and the consequent need for more cars. Only one month later, the
announcement was made that many had expected after the Great Dismal Swamp
derailment, NS executives terminated the steam program. It appears that the
N&W J611, the "Queen Of The Fleet" will pull excursion trains again in the
not too distant future due to the current "Fire Up 611" campaign. If you
have not made a contribution to this campaign please consider doing so.
More information can be found about this at www.fireup611.org. In 2013
members of the Blue Ridge Chapter, NRHS made a contribution to "Fire Up
611". We feel that it was money well spent. Hopefully you will agree!

Norris Deyerle
Blue Ridge Chapter, NRHS Chairman Of Virginia's Rail Heritage Region
Partners
Lynchburg, Va.
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