Today, in the Burlington Hawk Eye, a good friend of mine, and major source
of Bulletin 26 material, Norm Erickson was interviewed about the fateful
shop train wreck of February 26, 1938. I hope I don't get in trouble, but
here is a copy of the text. To check it out on your own, follow this link:
http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln7_0226.html
David Lotz
(314-846-8632
* E-mail: Dave_Lotz@m...
Survivor still wonders why he wasn't on train
n Burlington wreck 64 years ago today claimed lives of five of Norman
Erickson's co?workers.
By Bob Hansen
The Hawk Eye
The photographs and newspaper clippings have begun to fade and yellow, but
Norman Erickson's memories of that fateful day 64 years ago today remain
ever clear.
On Feb. 26, 1938, a train carrying workers from the West Burlington shops
collided with a fast freight, killing five men, and Erickson can only wonder
what twist of fate saved him from being on that train.
In those years before efficient public transportation, it was necessary for
the CB&Q railroad to transport workers on a special train that ran between
the depot and the West Burlington facilities.
Erickson, then 21 years old, remembers boarding that train virtually every
morning and then taking it home at night. But on Feb. 26, that routine
changed and Erickson took his auto to the shops.
"I'm not sure why I drove my car that day," Erickson said. "Maybe I had to
be home early for some reason, but it was something that I very seldom did."
That day was a Saturday, but the shops were operating because of a holiday
the preceding week. At the end of his shift, Erickson walked past the
waiting train to where his car was parked. As he passed, he called to a
number of friends offering them a ride into town.
Erickson dropped his friends off, but as he drove to his home, the car radio
suddenly broke into its regular broadcast to report a train wreck with
fatalities near the Izaak Walton Club House.
Erickson sped to his house and told his sister of the accident. Then both
immediately left for the wreck site, for Erickson's brother?in?law was on
the train. They arrived 15 minutes after the accident and the scene was one
of confusion and tragedy.
"We got there and I went forward to help, but the police had arrived by then
and all I could do was watch. There were still men trapped in the cars and I
remember one poor guy along side the track. He had apparently jumped from
the train, but had been hit by the trucks from beneath the cars and killed,"
Erickson said.
Erickson quickly learned that the fully loaded work train had pulled from
the yards and onto the main track when it was struck by an eastbound fast
freight. Just before the collision, someone shouted a warning aboard the
work train and some workers were able to leap from the cars, but others
remained aboard.
Five men, James Cowger, Walter Whitford, David Neder, William Cook and Otto
Langer, died in the crushed cars or in the tangle of metal alongside the
track. Roy Robinson survived the crash and was able to tell the newspaper of
the scene aboard the work train as the riders waited for the trains to
collide.
"It was dreadful, waiting for that crash we knew was coming in a minute,
carrying certain death down the tracks. I'll never forget the awful
sensation of waiting there for the onrushing freight locomotive to telescope
our train. We knew what to expect," Robinson told the reporter.
Erickson confirms the confusion of the wreck site near a small lake in West
Burlington.
"Everyone knew there were still men trapped in the cars, and everyone was
pretty frantic trying to get them out. It really bothered me that I could
only stand there and watch and not help, for some of those guys were my
friends," Erickson said.
"I remember some of the men jumped out of the train and then threw
themselves over a fence into the lake because they were so anxious to get
out of the way of the wreck. Later it was a family joke that my
brother?in?law, Ralph, jumped out of the train and ran all the way home. It
might have been funny later, but it sure wasn't funny that day."
Erickson also vividly remembers the scene at the shops the following Monday
when the workers returned.
"I remember clearly how quiet the shops were. There was none of the usual
noise and laughter because we had lost so many of our friends. It was
especially strange to walk by the machines that no one was running because
they had been aboard the train."
Erickson retired from the CB&Q shops in 1977 after 41 years of work, but to
this day he is still puzzled why he chose to drive that fateful day and was
not aboard the work train.
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