Pete,
A very interesting read indeed. I always assumed the extra was the Fox River
wayfreight but clearly it was indeed an extra authorized only as far as
Yagan Pit(first station south(timetable west) of Oswego and site of a large
gravel pit. The wreck occurred along and above what is today IL rte 25 near
what
today is the unincorporated Boulder Hill development.
The one thing that kept coming back to me ,while reading,was the irony
between my intimidation story at Denrock and this incident. If someone other
than
the engineer had been reading the orders; instead of starting the
train,blowing the whistle,etc it might have been avoided. Of course not
giving the
extra a signal to enter the branch knowing there was a conflicting movement
overdue w/o anywhere to clear it would have prevented the wreck.
On the other hand, if the crew of the extra had cleared the Aurora-Galesburg
main and stopped back of the yard limit board on the branch main then the
incident may have been prevented. Of course then it would have been
interesting
as to who was going to back up either to Oswego or back on the double track
main line ?!
Now that I think about it I believe there was a siding along the branch main
just as you entered the line. I checked my 1959 track book and sure enough
there was a siding on the south side from which a spur went to what I believe
at the time was Western Wallboard and later Western Electric. Wonder if it was
there in '43 ?
Sure is easy to be an arm chair "hearing officer" these many years after the
incident.
There is a picture of this wreck in The Burlington in Transition on page
136.
Then I got to thinking about the 7.7 trains a day shown in the study on a
line that today has one round trip a day. So I pulled a 1946 timecard and sure
enough theres 2 passenger round trips,#85 &86 and the Fox River round trip
everyday except Sunday !!!!
**************Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you
now. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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