Chuck Spinner has asked me to thank all those who have offered information and
insight into the Naperville crash. He is unable to respond immediately to all
the e-mails but will be doing so shortly. He has also provided the comments
shown below as a background to the book he is writing, and at the end are some
outstanding issues that you might be able to assist with.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
Thanks to all those on the List who have responded to my periodic questions on
the Naperville train wreck of April 25th, 1946. Rupert and Jim Christen of
Naperville have been invaluable helps as I go on my third year of research on
the tragedy.
My mother was pregnant with me in April of 1946. I was born on October 22
of that year. We lived directly across from the main entrance to Kroehler
Furniture Manufacturing Company. My Dad worked at the factory and most
probably was one of those who helped at the scene. However, because of the
horrific nature of the aftermath of the crash, he never talked to me about that
day. My Dad died in April of 1961 when I was fourteen and before I had any
knowledge or interest in the event. We were just one block from the train
wreck, but my three older siblings were kept in the house and away from the
crash site.
About four years ago, I was cleaning out some files and came across an
article from the Naperville Sun that my Mom had sent me some years ago. The
occasion of the article was the 40th anniversary of the crash. When I read the
article I wondered why, after all these years, no monument or marker has been
placed by the site. I also wondered why nothing has ever been written about
the men and women and two children who died in the wreck. I realized that if
those 45 victims had been from Naperville, there would have been any number of
articles and books as well as markers and commemorations.
But, the fact of the matter was that none of the victims were from the
town. Also, the wreck was so horrific that it was like a battlefield
experience that few people wanted to share.
So, over the past few years I have taken it upon myself to research those
people whose lives were taken in the wreck. Through painstaking effort, I have
found information on all 45 victims. Some accounts give the number of deaths
as 47. But, I am fairly certainly that I have found two names that were
incorrectly spelled and therefore, by accident, listed twice.
I have interviewed the only two known surviving eye witnesses to the event.
One is turning 99 years old in the next couple of days, but is sharp as a
tack. I have interviewed several survivors and a few major players who helped
at the scene. One of my favorites is Calista Wehrli, a Marine nurse, who
worked eight hours at the site and left after that time only when she was
handed two legs from the wreckage. I was fortunate to have been able to
reunite Calista with the son of one of the severely injured passengers that she
had helped 63 years before from car #1376, the last car on the Advance Flyer.
I also interviewed one of the survivors from the Silver Cloud who had some
wonderful stories. He now lives in Idaho and is 88 years old. By letter I
arranged to call his house at a specific time. However, when I called his
daughter said that she'd have him call me back as soon as he had come in from
plowing the fields!!!
I have relied on Rupert and Jim and subsequently all of you to help me with
the technical aspects of the wreck and I continue to polish up these points. I
hope that when you read my accounts you will be satisfied with the events that
you have helped me research. Of course, I am relying heavily on the ICC report
and accounts from Burlington Bulletin #42.
I am going to return to Naperville one last time in early May. I plan on
meeting with Jim Christen yet again. I also want to set up an interview with
someone from the Burlington Museum in LaGrange, Illinois. I also want to meet
the son of one of those victims of the wreck.
I am now looking for an agent to represent my book to a publisher. I self
published my first book, A Book of Prayers: To the Heavens from the Stars
(abookofprayers.com) and I really don't want to go that route again.
I have a rough copy of the book, and want to wrap things up this summer. I
realize that I could spend the rest of my life researching material from the
book, but am fairly satisfied with the content I have been able to put together
at this point. Of course, I will continue, to the very end to send out queries
to Rupert that you might help me with. For instance, what restitution was
finally given to the victims by the Burlington? I know that there was a suit
filed for $10,000, but I can't find the outcome of that case. There was also a
class action suit, I believe filed under Albert Lane's name. But, again, I
don't know the final outcome.
I intend to call my book simply Naperville: The Train Wreck of 1946. I am
very hopeful that I can have it published in time for the 65th commemoration of
the wreck in 2011. We'll see.
Thanks again everyone,
Chuck Spinner
spinlake@yahoo.com
3152 Chautauqua Avenue
Ashville, New York 14710
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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