Paducah Chapter

National Railway Historical Society

June 2013 OOPS!!

(photos from the AP)

It appears that Memorial day

weekend was not good for the

folks at UP.

A UP train swiped a BNSF train at

the diamond where the two lines

cross near Chaffee Missouri caus-

ing the UP train to derail into the

MO Hwy M overpass. This in turn

caused the overpass to collapse.

Two cars were crossing the bridge

when the accident occurred. Sev-

ern people, five from the vehicles

and the two man train crew from

the UP freight were transported to

the hospital in Cape Girardeau.

The up train was carrying

autos and auto parts, while the

BNSF train was hauling scrap

metal. ( Looks like they will have

more to add to the scrap pile.)

The accident happened before

dawn. See more inside in news

and views.

UP engines lay on their side after hitting a BNSF

train at a diamond.

Derailing cars knocked the pillar from the overpass of MO Hwy M

A Car rests on the collapsed portion of the overpass, while workers assess the

damage and clean up.

An insurance adjusters nightmare, train cars and pickup trucks among the wreckage.

NEW YORK BY AMTRAK:

Over the years, Ann and I have

traveled on most of Amtrak’s

western trains, but never on those

in the Northeast. Leaving Carbon-

dale on April 27th, we remedied

that by making an Amtrak travel

package six day trip involving five

trains, and a circle from Chicago

to NYC to Washington and back to

Chicago and Carbondale. We left

at 7:30 a.m. on the Saluki, arriving

Chicago on time at 1:00. The

Lakeshore Limited did not depart

until 9:30 p.m. but sleeping car

passengers are allowed to board at

8:00 for a wind and cheese party in

the dining car. The Lakeshore fol-

lows the old 20th Century Limited

“water level route,” across north-

ern Indiana, Ohio, and New York,

and at Albany, N.Y., divides with

one section continuing due East to

Boston, and the other which we

were on, turning South along the

Hudson River to NYC. Amtrak

travel had booked us into a hotel

across the street from Penn Sta-

tion, (which is part of the Madison

Square Garden complex) and the

Redcap carried our bags through

the station to the hotel. After three

busy and enjoyable nights and two

days in the City, we boarded a

Northeast Corridor electric pow-

ered train for the three hour run

through Philadelphia to Washing-

ton Union Station. We were there

for three more hours before catch-

ing the Capitol Limited at 4:05

p.m. There were several hours of

daylight left, and countryside

through Maryland and Virginia

was beautiful, especially around

Harpers Ferry. We arrived back in

Chicago at 9:45 a.m. the next

morning, one hour late, which

suited us fine, as it gave us more

time to get dressed and have

breakfast before detraining. We

then had until 4:00 to catch the

Illini back to Carbondale. We ate

lunch at the famous Lou Mitchell’s

Restaurant down the street from

Union Station. It is rated as one of

best lunch places in the country,

and has been there since 1923, at

the start of legendary Route 66.

The trip involved several

firsts for me: first trains in the

Northeast, first behind electric

power, and the first using Am-

trak’s travel service, We consid-

ered it great success, and the cost

reasonable as it included three

nights in a first class hotel, several

attractions in New York, and of

course five trains, two sleepers,

and meals in the diner. The trains

were clean and on time (except for

the hour late on the Cap), and both

the on board and the in- station

service was good. I don’t want to

take up more space, but will be

happy to answer any questions.

TRAINS WRECKS (LOCAL):

Of course, the accident most perti-

nent to our area was the May 26th,

2:00 a.m. wreck near Chaffee/

Scott City, MO, just off I-55,

about 50 miles from Paducah. A

UP 60 car westbound train carry-

ing auto parts and new autos, T-

boned a southbound 75 car BNSF

train carrying scrap, at a diamond

underneath a bridge carrying MO

Highway M. About a dozen cars

on each train derailed and one or

more of them hit a support on the

bridge causing it to collapse. Five

people in cars on the bridge, and

the UP engineer and conductor

were injured, none seriously.

Member Allan Rhodes and I, and

our neighbors, Richard and Debi

Glasscock drove over Memorial

Day afternoon to see the clean-up

and were there for a NTSB news

conference. The NTSB speaker

said they were gathering informa-

tion and not analyzing at that

point, there were cameras and

event recorders on both locomo-

tives, and the trailing BNSF unit

had a camera pointed toward the

rear of that train, which recorded

the impact. He said they would

also run a test train to measure and

check the signal operations. It

should ultimately be pretty easy to

determine responsibility, which is

important because the cost is going

to be high. It is estimated to cost

$3 million dollars to replace the

bridge, plus damage to the track,

cars, and locomotives. While there

we saw at least three auto carriers

turned over, and there was appar-

ently no effort to salvage. They

were simply picking the new vehi-

cles up with huge track- hoes, and

dumping them in a pile. The acci-

dent was on UP’s Chester sub-

division, and BNSF’s former

Frisco River division.

TRAIN WRECKS AROUND

THE COUNTRY: The worst is

this month of accidents was be-

tween two Metro-North commuter

trains on the New York-Boston

Corridor, when one train derailed

for an unknown reason, into the

path of an oncoming train on the

adjoining track, both running at

speed. 72 people were injured, but

Bob Johnston

Published monthly by the Paducah Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. Send your news, photos to:

Editor — Charles Gibbons

oldradiorepair@bellsouth.net

President…........…......Logan Blewett Vice President…….......John Deming

Secretary…..…......Charles Gibbons

Historian…........……Jack Johnston

Treasurer..................Glen Pollender

Program…....…...….…..Dick Kastas National Director.…..Bob Johnston

Directors…………..……...Dick Kastas, Charles Gibbons, Logan Blewett

Membership — Charles Gibbons 3409 Central Avenue, Paducah 42001

Roundhouse Notes

there were no deaths. Progress Rail

in Mayfield has rebuilt some of the

Metro North locomotives, but

from the pictures, this wreck ap-

peared to be MU cars….On May

28th, in Baltimore, a CSX freight

struck a refuse container truck at a

private crossing causing an explo-

sion and fire that required the

evacuation of the surrounding

area. According to reports, the

train crew was not seriously in-

jured, but the truck driver

was……..On May 19th, Amtrak’s

Northbound City of New Orleans

derailed at 16th St. in Chicago.

There were no injuries, and buses

were sent continue the 197 passen-

gers to Union Station. The acci-

dent occurred on the St. Charles

Air Line track that the six Amtrak

trains to and from southern Illinois

have been using for years,,,,,,,,,,On

a much less serious note, on May

16, a Union Pacific locomotive

pulling a coal train to Paducah,

caught fire on BNSF tracks north

of Metropolis. The fire was extin-

guished without incident, and the

unit sent to UP shops in North Lit-

tle Rock for repairs.

P&L LOCOMOTIVES: Appar-

ently, only three of the SD 70’s

have been repainted so far, but ac-

cording to reports, all but two or

three are in service. The distrib-

uted power conversion kits are due

to arrive in June or July, and after

they are installed, probably the

lease units (SD 90’s, etc.) will be

returned.

P&L PASSENGER CARS: Dur-

ing the past year there have been

several references in this column

and other places about the P&L’s

two business/passenger cars, Blue-

grass I and II, and their accompa-

nying power car; and the plans by

the railroad to convert Bluegrass I,

the former I.C. Business Car into a

configuration favoring a more re-

ception friendly venue. This plan

has apparently changed, as the set

of three cars is now being adver-

tised for sale on its website by

Sterling Rail, Inc., of North Aus-

tin, TX, a consignment dealer, for

the price of $ 444,000.00. If you

want to check the ad, the link is:

www.sterlingrail.com and click on

“Passenger Cars.”

PUBLICITY FOR FREIGHT

HOUSE: David Ibata, the Editor

of The DIXIE FLYER, the news

magazine of the Nashville, Chatta-

nooga, and St. Louis Preservation

Society, wrote an excellent article

in the last edition on the renova-

tion of the former NC Paducah

Freight House into the new Com-

merce Center. He was given access

to some excellent, formerly unpub-

lished, photographs taken by A&K

Construction, the contractor, and

took some exterior shots himself

on a trip through Paducah. Ibata

visited our museum a couple of

years ago, and saw the disrepair

the freight house was in, so was

particularly interested in its renais-

sance. The article is on line and if

you are interested in reading it,

email me at bobj31@comcast.net,

and I will send you the link and

password.

AMTRAK NEW LOCOMO-

TIVES: Amtrak and Siemens re-

cently unveiled at the Siemens

plant in Sacramento, the first three

of 70 ACS-64 8,600 hp electric

locomotives that will replace the

aging fleet of electrics, mainly

AEC-7’s, such as the one that

pulled our Northeast Corridor train

mentioned above. The new en-

gines will operate trains on the

Northeast Corridor at 125 mph,

and on Keystone service in Penn-

sylvania, at 110 mph.

MUSEUM: We had 254 signed visi-tors in May, including the Marshall

County Leadership Group of 10, and

a World War II reunion group, the

128 AAA Battalion, of 11. This is a decrease over 363 in May of 2012,

but we had two much larger groups in

that month, plus the boats had started.

Also, we had two Saturdays, May 18th & 25th that were unusually low;

probably an anomaly having to do

with the end of school activities. TRAIN DAY was very successful

with good attendance. Cliff

Downey’s historic postcard collection is very interesting and beautifully

framed and arranged by Amy, with

good descriptions. If you have not

already seen it in the meeting room, check it out. Amy will have another

Story Hour on June 8th, at 11:00, 1:00,

and 3:00, featuring Owney, the Mail Pouch Pooch. Owney was the fa-

mous dog who rode with Railway

Postal Clerks in mail cars all over the U.S., and was the featured on a U.S.

postage stamp in 2011. Be sure to

remind your friends you have chil-

dren or grandchildren.

PROGRAM: We are fortunate in again having a program by fellow member, and

rail historian, Cliff Downey. At the time

of this writing, Cliff had not decided on

his exact subject, but considering his

large & varied slide collection it is sure to

be a good one. Please come and bring a

friend and support our Dick Kastas, our

faithful program chairman and our

speaker who is driving up from his home

in Paris, TN.

Roundhouse Notes

% Charles Gibbons

3409 Central Ave

Paducah KY 42001

Gosh! Its almost time for

the meeting! We sure

don’t want to miss it.

TUESDAY

June 11th

7 PM

MCCRACKEN

COUNTY

LIBRARY

SECOND FLOOR

Owney The Mail Pouch Pooch