wow, when good trains go bad...what was the casulty count Dick?
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Wow. What a mess!
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Spectacular picture Dick. A piece of history all in one shot. Thank you for sharing.
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where exactly was this on the west side of nyc?
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| Posted by on January 15, 2007 | |
Wow, amazing history. Thanks for sharing this.
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The accident occurred on the West 30th Street Branch of the New York Central Railroad at approximately 147th Street, Thanks for the comments.
From the NTSB report:
New York, N. Y., at about 9:55 a.m. on May 22, 1967. The trains involved were 1/NY-4 extra 2020 east, consisting of three diesel-electric locomotives and 15 cars eastbound from Syracuse, New York to the 30th Street Branch of the New York Central Railroad, and train ND-5 extra 5305 west, consisting of four diesel-electric locomotives and 60 cars westbound from the vicinity of 105th Street, and proceeding north along the Hudson River on the 30th Street Branch.
The collision occurred on main Track No. 1, which was being used on the morning of the accident for train movements in both directions due to repairs which were being conducted on main Track No. 2.
As a result of the accident, six train service employees were killed, and three train service employees were injured. Six locomotives and 11 cars were destroyed, one locomotive was extensively damaged and five cars were also damaged.
The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the operator at the 72nd Street Station (DO) to restrict train ND-5.
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| Posted by Nikko P on January 16, 2007 | |
I'd hate to be that operator. Where are the FA units and what happened to 2020's train? I only see a passenger train and the freight locomotives.
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This is one rail accident that I happened to have shot as well. To ammend Mr. Hovey's comments, the northbound's power consisted of an RS3 (the 5305), two FB2s and an FA2, while the southbound had a DL721 (also called an RS32), the GP35 and a U30B, which had been moved by the time of this photo. The RS3, which was reduced to just a frame and an oil engine, is the pile seen between the GP35 and the rider coach at the left of the photo. The FB2 on the wall wound up there as a result of the impact. The second FB2 sits at the rear of the rider coach and the FA2 is on it's side to the right of the derrick in the middle. Between the FA2 and the two men in white t-shirts sits the long hood and underframe of the 2020. The nose of the DL721 was pushed into the cab of the locomotive by the over-riding RS3. There was a secondary derailment on the northbound, about fifteen cars back, which put another half dozen cars off the right of way. Both trains were on the southbound track (second from left), and the two tracks to the left are what is now the Amtrak right-of-way from Penn Station to to Albany, Buffalo and Chicago.
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| Posted by on January 21, 2007 | |
WOW!! I was waiting for my 12th birthday and I was only 8 miles away in NJ. Never knew about this. Great shot!
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| Posted by DOT/ICC/NTSB site link on February 20, 2007 | |
Great narrative reports for wrecks(this one included)from 1911-1994
http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_railroads
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| Posted by on February 20, 2010 | |
Just a follow-up to Mr. Smith's eyewitness recollections on the picture. I think if you look closely at the object to the right of the guys in the white shirts you can see the curved corner of the hood that looks more like the remains of the leading end of the RS2 long hood than the RS32. According to the DOT report the lead engines did not override. The report also states that the second locomotive of the northbound did override the lead engine and sheared off the cab, carrying it up onto the bank. Curiously the report is silent on the fatalities of the southbound crew. The collision occurred on Track 1, which is the track all the way to the left in the image. Apparently the coach was being transported in the northbound freight consist behind the locomotives?
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| Posted by Sanky on October 6, 2010 | |
Wow, this looks like chaos!
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| Posted by on January 18, 2012 | |
I too was waiting for my 12th birthday when this wreck took place. My dad was a NY city firefighter and also liked trains so I was somewhat familiar with the NY Central's 30th street branch. On trips upstate to Harriman and Bear Mountain state parks we always drove up the west side highway and Henry Hudson parkway to the GW bridge.
If you're familiar with the old west side highway you'll recall the way the highway veered right or left near exits and entrances. No other roadway I know of had turns like this and one of those turns was located near the 60 street yards. In this area there was actually room to safely pull a car off to the side out of the line of traffic.
We stopped here many times to watch train movements in the yard. There was another area further north on the Henry Hudson where you could exit the highway via an exit ramp that paralleled a small yard or staging area. You could then re-enter the highway via an entrance ramp going back up to highway level.
Sometimes we'd exit down the ramp to see if there were any locomotives idling but I believe this area was north of where the wreck in your photo took place. I also recall the slaughter houses along the line with cattle cars and then later on reefer cars in their sidings. Thanks for posting the photo it really brought back some wonderful memories.
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How fast was he going. He had to be moving fast to launch that FB into the embankment like that!
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