Louis, I blew it up and it seemed to have a 7 on the tender. Archie
May 30, 2017
Ricky - Wonderful find! I wasn't aware of this particular site. I might be
able to enhance one of the images to where I can make out the last digit of the
wrecked Class B-1 locomotive. There were only seven from Lima, 7000 to 7007.
Does anyone have a Lines West passenger time table for 1923 that would let us
know what time No. 2 was due in Benkelman? May be a news story might exist
if Benkelman had a newspaper, or in McCook if that was the Division Point. A
nasty wreck to be sure! Thank you very much - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
Louis
One more web find
https://hiveminer.com/Tags/1923,bluepoint
Ricky Keil
May 30, 2017
Ricky - OK, I know where Benkelman is. And it was the Republican River in
late Spring flood stage we see. That means almost assuredly it was
either an outright wash out or that high water softened and/or undermined
the tracks. Not knowing the time of day or night the wreck occurred, the
engine crew may have never seen the bad spot in the tracks, or if they
did, there was no time to stop. So, that information sure helps.
Now, if we could only find a newspaper article, hopefully it would tell us
what Class B-1 locomotive it was and other pertinent details. Was Benkelman on
the McCook Division? With at least one fatality, it's a little unusual
the wreck doesn't show-up in the ICC Accident Investigation Reports of
the era. Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
Louis
Sorry, pasted the link and hit send
Here is another link
http://memories.nebraska.gov/cdm/search/collection/hphsm/searchterm/blue%20point/order/nosort
It says Blue Point was east of Benkelman, NE and you are correct, along
the Republican River
Ricky Keil Papillion, NE
[Attachment(s) from
LZadnichek@aol.com included below]
May 30, 2017
Group - Here's a mystery for our Lines West experts to try and solve.
Following are inserted/attached two images of
a long-ago derailment involving an unidentified Class B-1 4-8-2
type locomotive and its passenger train. The only information given is the
date May 21, 1923, the train is No. 2 and the location is Blue Point,
NE:
<CBQBluePointNEDerailmentTrainNo2-5-21-23.jpg>
<CBQBluePointNEDerailmentTrainNo2-5-21-23-3.jpg>
From the two images, we can see that the locomotive is an almost new
Lima Locomotive Works Class B-1 4-8-2 type constructed in 1922. It has
an extended smoke box for burning lignite coal. There is what appears in the
background to be a river in flood stage. May be the Republican River?
There also appears to be water on both sides of the right-of-way. I
would speculate that the train ran into a wash out
and jumped-the-tracks at speed from the mangled condition of some of
the cars that look to have jack-knifed behind the derailed tender.
There may've been at least one or more shattered wood baggage or
RPO mail cars on the head-end, in addition to the one steel mail
storage/baggage car shown. Lastly, there is an "improved" road and pole line
paralleling the tracks.
I have searched the ICC Accident Investigation Reports for 1923 and
this wreck does not appear. I also searched for the years 1922 and
1924. I do not see the wreck listed. I've been told that ICC Reports do
not usually include accidents where no one was killed or badly injured
and no rules violated. Perhaps, that was the situation with this wreck,
although from the severely torn-up cars, it makes you
wonder. Additionally, I can find no community named Blue Point in
Nebraska. May be that was the name of the nearest siding. Perhaps, the river
and train No. 2 together will point to a clue as to just where this
wreck occurred and any details. You'd think that a newspaper article in some
Nebraska newspaper would've covered this story. I would like to know
what the locomotive's road number was, too. Can anyone better ID these
photographs? Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
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Posted by: archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net>
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