| Posted by Jim Myers on June 18, 2007 | |
My father was suppose to be the fireman on this job, but was bumped up due to another man getting sick. His good friend George Donaldson was the engineer and died later in the hospital, both crews died as the result of the collision, the RI crew remains were pinned in the wreckage for several hours before they could be cut out. (This was before the Jaws of Life), several passengers were also injuried.
The town of Montgomery is directly behind the wreck, the volunteer fire co. was only 1/2 block away, they had just gotten back to station from a house fire when the wreck happened.
The CB&Q were just installing CTC in this area, and the contractors had failed to return control to the tower operater, resulting in a clear signal with a misaligned switch. The RI was using CB&Q rails due to high water on there trackage.
|
For a full set of photos on this wreck and the correct details see: http://railfan44.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=23180
|
|