In reply to several comments about the Maple Ave. derailment, I believe
it was a single train derailment involving either a broken wheel or a
broken rail. Maple Ave. is on the east end of D.G. while belmont Ave.
and the Belmont station are on the far west end.
As for the shifted plate hitting another train, I vaguely recall such
an incident, but it was not the 1947 wreck that damaged the Main Street
station. That was caused by a tractor that fell off a flat car of a
freight train just west of Forest Ave. It fell onto the center main
shortly before the eastbound Twin Cities Zephyr arrived. When the E5
hit the tractor, it turned over on its side, slid down the tracks and
came to rest just east of the depot opposite the Tivoli theater and
hotel. The articulated train of the Godesses stayed upright, but
derailed and careened into the west end of the depot heavily damaging
the west end open portico, the waiting room and wiping out the ticket
office where the agent had just closed up about 5 minutes before. All
three main tracks were blocked. Wreckers came from both east and west
to clean up the wreckage. All the east bound passenger train were held
at Aurora and finally set east late that evening as one 40 some odd car
train behind an O-5. The station "house" track, which started west of
Forest Ave. and went around the back or south side of the depot and
re-entered the south main just west of Washington Street, was used by
the combined passenger train to get around the wreck. That track was
not built or maintained, for an O-5 and the passage, I have been told,
was very slow and cautious! By the next morning, the north main was
open for some traffic. The depot was rebuilt and, to this day, if you
look at the roof line, you will note that some portions of the block
work along the top of the walls is much more modern than the rest as a
result of the accident. The train also was rebuilt and returned to
service as the new Nebraska Zephyr. The train, of course, survives and
is at the Ill. Railroad Museum, however, the E-5 that is with it, is
not the one involved in the wreck. A couple of pictures of the wreck
are printed in the BB on the trains of the Gods and Godesses. I have
additional pictures taken the day after by my dad if anyone is
interested.
About 1964, another wreck occurred just west of the depot between
Forest Ave. and Main Street when an EB ore train derailed. However, it
was no where near as spectacular as the Zephyr wreck of '47.
Leo, I think, is correct about the timing and circumstances involved in
the Belmont station wreck.
Bill Barber
On Sunday, January 19, 2003, at 06:15 AM, BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
wrote:
Message: 18
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 19:58:38 EST
From: Aeolus3@a...
Subject: Re: 1965 Wreck @ Fairview
In a message dated 1/18/03 5:34:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
qutlx1@a...
writes:
Thanks Bill. Was this the shifted plate of steel wreck? There was one
where
a
plate on a flat shifted and caught a Zephyr going the other way in or
near
D.G.
Leo that was the 1947 wreck, Silver Arrow (if memory serves) and the
afternoon Zephyr took out the DG Station when a load on a flatcar
shifted and
sideswiped the AZ. I don't remember which trainset but I think it's
the one
that's now at IRM.
Loren
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