The last car was a NP coach, the same type as used on the D&RGW ski
train and now on the Napa Wine train. The next to last car was the
Mississippi. NP car was the 13th car. So he was riding the front
vestibule of the Mississippi. The Mississippi did have a "blind end"
- if you want to call it that, in that there was no rear vestibule;
but it certainly had end windows and an end door. The NP car had a
blind rear, unless you looked out the vestibule.
That car has always made me wonder actually. Here was an NP coach,
headed for Burlington - one would think that in that position, it was
meant to be taken off for repair or inspection at Burlington. Why
then have so many revenue passengers in it? Obviously, this coach
was being used as the "local" coach, something Amtrak uses
today. Between Chicago and Omaha it is amazing how many people get
on and off the Amtrak Zephyr. On my last trip west on it, it was a
full car leaving Chicago., same with coming back. I guess not all
that much has changed after all (except that this is one train vs how
many on that same stretch of track in 1946?). And it is still an
assumption that it was going for repair. Knowing the Q, it was just
off a NP/Q train, turned around, out on the Adv. Expo, out to
Burlington, back to Chicago and back out on the next Q/NP train to
make maximum use of equipment. Still.... that was one rough car to
have at the tail end of that train, it must have been one heck of a
rough ride. They weren't light weight cars, didn't have the nicest
seats, and they weren't the best trackers at speed either. Crack
the whip anyone?
At 01:17 PM 4/25/2006, you wrote:
>Bob and listers
>
>Bob has outlined the probable sequence of events just before the collision
>from an engineer's viewpoint. This is probably as good a re
>creation of what
>happened as we're ever going to get.
>
>Someone mentioned whether this event had anything to do with the
>installation of the red Mars light on the rear end of passenger trains.
>
>A reading of the ICC report tells us that the flagman did not activate the
>Mars light before he headed out to flag, which says that there was one
>there...However if you read it all, you will see that, prior to the
>application of
>the brakes prior to the collision, he was riding at the front end of
>the 12th
>car which put him two car lengths from the rear end of the train. He said
>this location was the only place from which he could make proper
>inspection of
>his train on the curves.."because of the type of equipment being
>used"....blind end cars???.
>
>Therefore, when he sensed the "emergency stop" he would have had to run back
>through two cars, grab his flagging equipment and then, run all the way back
>to where he was to get off to flag. (One of you more "equipment savvy" guys
>can tell us what kind of equipment consitituted the last two cars on the
>train). In his haste he probably overlooked flipping the switch
>that would have
>activated the Mars light. Apparently they (at least this one) were not set
>up to activate with an emergency brake application....Or perhaps he was able
>to get off from the rear end of the rear car....Somebody come on an tell us
>what the platform and/or vestibule situation was on these last two cars, and
>why that arrangement would prevent the flagman from being able to
>inspect his
>train.
>
>Just as a little aside and at no extra charge, let it be known that one of
>the flagman's primary responsibilities was train inspection. The head
>brakeman would be occupied with "handling
>transportation" (tickets for you non
>rails) and other details in assisting the conductor with passengers.
>
>Early in my RR career an old operating officer told me, as a young
>trainmaster. "Now son, when you're checking a crew look at
>the flagman....if his face
>is dirty he is making his curve inspections, if it isn't he isn't....Most of
>the flagman "back in the days" wore goggles and when they would take them
>off at a station stop or final terminal, they would bear
>the "racoon look" and
>you could instantly tell if the inspection was being done. Normally these
>guys would be "out" on every curve and would "highball" the head
>end to let the
>engine crew know that they were on the job. At night the flagman would give
>a highball with his lantern or flashlight and the engineer or fireman
>(depending on whether it was a right or left hand curve) would
>flash his light
>through the side window into the outside mirror to let the flagman
>know that he
>had seen his "OK" If it wasn't too cold, they might roll the
>window down and
>look out.
>
>Charlie mentioned that some of the relatives of the engineer (W.W.Blaine)
>and the flagman (Tangney??) were at the BRHS meet a few years
>ago..IIRC it was
>one of the Aurora meets....The flagman's son was there at the behest of Jim
>C...On Sunday after the meet Jim and I took him across town to visit with
>some other relatives so we had little time to talk with him.
>
>Bob...You probably won't be able to find JDC today..He'll be over at the
>"site" with his black armband. Or he might be at the point where
>the fireman
>landed when he jumped...He has these locations marked out and took me to the
>fireman's landing spot, near the cemetery near the east end of
>N'ville several
>years ago.
>
>Pete
Bob Webber
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