The recent discussion of the collision of a gas-electric
passenger motor car with a steam locomotive near
Montgomery, Ill., in 1943 has emphasized how the
gas-electric always lost a confrontationof this nature.
But where PMCs (passenger motor cars) collided with
smaller highway vehicles, and even vehicles as large as
school buses, the outcome was different, as this Dec. 20,
1952, telegram from Denver master mechanic B.F. Meligan to
new Lines West motive power superintendent C.A. Moody
demonstrates. I'll transcribe it just as it appears:
"AT 820AM DEC 19 TRAIN NO 16 PMC-9767 SPEED 38 TO 40 MPH
CONDR MITCHELL ENGR EVANE AT MP 236 ABOUT 2 MILES WEST OF
REPUBLICAN NEBR STRUCK SCHOOL BUS APPROACHING FROM SOUTH.
TRAIN STRUCK FRONTOF BUS AND SHOVED IT OVER 40 FT
EMBANKMENT. BUS DRIVEN BY MRS MAX BARKER AGE 33
REPUBLICAN NOT INJURED. THERE WERE FOUR OCCUPANTS,
JANETTE BOOKER AGE 17, BACK INJURED, EVERETT HUNTER AGE 6
FACE AND MOUTH INJURIES, STANLEY HUNTER AGE 8 APPARENTLY
NOT INJURED, BOBBY BOOKER AGE 15 NOT INJURED. 1951
CHEVROLET 8-PASS BUS BADLY DAMAGED. DAMAGE TO PMC-9767
CONSISTED OF LEFT FRONT SAND PIPE BROKEN OFF, LEFT FRONT
CAB STEPS BENT AND LEFT GRAB IRON AT BAGGAGE DOOR BROKEN.
DRIVER OF BUS DID NOT STOP AT CROSSING AS STATED WAS
AFRAID WOULD STALL DUE TO STEEP APPROACH. ENGINEER DID
NOT SEE BUS. NO WITNESSES. WEATHER SNOWING AND COLD.
WHISTLE SOUNDED BELL RINGING. VIEW UNOBSTRUCTED OF
EASTBOUND TRAINS. CROSSING PROTECTED BY STANDARD
CROSSBUCK AND WARNING SIGNS. C-10. B.F. MELIGAN."
Trains 15-16, originally through runs between St. Louis,
Kansas City, St. Joseph and Denver, operating over the
secondary mainline across southern Nebraska, by 1952 had
been reduced to a series of short, "connecting" runs. And
the portion of the run between Wymore and Oxford (where
the Denver mainline was met) was then being operated as a
motor train using the 9767, a member of the final group of
gas-electric PMCs purchased by the railroad, being
delivered in late 1930. It had an RPO-baggage
configuration and pulled a coach trailer for passengers.
The original 15-foot RPO compartment had been lengthened
to 30 feet, and within the past two years the unit had
traded its original 400-hp Winton gasoline engine for a
similarly rated Lima-Hamilton diesel, much less prone to
bursting into flames in a collision.
Eastbound No. 16 was scheduled out of Oxford, the Denver
mainline connection, at 5:45 a.m. and was due at
Republican, 24 miles to the east, at 6:30 a.m. No. 16
generally didn't have to wait at Oxford for its connecting
train from Denver because that connection, No. 6, the Coloradoan,
was due into Oxford from Denver at 3:01 a.m. But on the
day of the collision No. 16 was running some two hours
behind schedule for reasons unknown. The slight damage to
the 9767 as a result of the collision would not have
affected its ability to complete the run to Wymore, and
the bent step and broken sand line were likely repaired
there. Replacement of the broken baggage door grab iron
may also have been done at Wymore, but more likely the car
was pulled off its run for a day or two and run up to
McCook for repairs. The PMC would remain in use until
1961, gaining a measure of fame when on its final
assignments it was paired with experimental coach "Silver
Pendulum" and painted silver to match, first on the St.
Joseph-Brookfield, Mo., run and then between St. Joe,
Wymore and Lincoln. After retirement the carbody was
placed on the ground as an enginemen's locker room at
Beardstown, Ill.
More to come.
Hol