Nostalgia & History > Two Photos of the Same Collision?

I found the following photo [Picture 1] on the Denver Public Library digital photo website, http://denverlibrary.org .

Picture 1 below, is DPL photo RR-1990. “Title: D&RG. Summary: View of wrecked Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge 4-6-0 locomotives on a track in probably Alamosa (Alamosa County), Colorado. The two locomotives were in a head-on collision. Shows a coaling trestle. Date: (between 1905 and 1920?) Notes: Title, descriptive information and ‘not a Richardson photo’ penciled on negative envelope. Source: Robert W. Richardson. Medium: 1 negative: nitrate; 7 x 11 cm. (2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.).”

Picture 2 below, is a photo that I found among my Dad’s things. On the back of the photo is stamped David K. Clint and labeled in what I think is my Dad’s writing, Movie Premiere yr. 1951.

I have posted Picture 2 before on Trainorders.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2116731,2116731#msg-2116731

The following excerpt is from the earlier Trainorders posting.

“On my posting, Poncha Junction, Colorado, I had a David K. Clint photo of two engines after a collision which my Dad had labeled Movie Premiere yr. 1951.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2115235

I have found the movie. The movie is Denver and Rio Grande.

http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/filmguyernie/page8.phtml

The following excerpt is from the above website.

‘Once again the beautiful Animas Canyon north of Durango, Colorado was chosen as the location to set up and film the crash. They used two old engines from the narrow gauge line, Engine 319 and engine 268, loading them with black powder and Dynamite to create the explosion in the head-on collision.’

You can clearly see in the David K. Clint photo the number 319 on one of the engines.”

Are these two photos of the same collision? If so is the location of Picture 1 Durango rather than Alamosa?

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That's been nearly 60 years ago and it still makes me cringe that they destroyed those engines.

No, two different collisions.

If you look at the domes on the engine to the right of the second photo, you can see their style is different from both engines in the first photo. They have decorative rims on then, while the domes on both engines in the upper photo are plain and rounded.

Z

Well it was either that or the cutting torch.

The difference is easier than that. In the first photo, one loco has 6 driving wheels and the other has 8. In the second photo, both have 8.

Brian Ehni

It would appear that the first photo is of the collision that occurred between #169 and #411 at MP 309 on what today, is the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. The accident was a result of someone misreading their orders. Ironically, the 169 survives to this day in Alamosa Colorado, after being repaired, is now on display in Cole Park.


More Information at:
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,153604

Hi,

The date of the movie collision was July 15, 1951. The real # 319 was used, but not the # 268. The # 345 was repainted to look like # 268 for the wreck scene. Both locos were scrapped in September 1951. The real # 268 survives on display in Gunnison.
I understand that the two trains were actually pushed together to create the collision. The 319 and 345 were stripped, and were going to be scrapped anyway.

If you slow the movie (video) down and do a frame by frame advance, you can see the powder explode in the boiler just as the tip of the two pilots collide !

Don

Thanks to everyone who wrote a reply.

Thanks to drgwAZ1986 who explained how the two locomotives in Picture 2 ended up in the Alamosa yards. “The force of the impact fused the two locomotives together, such that they could not be separated at the scene. They were towed still joined to Alamosa.” Thanks to drgwAZ1986 who gave the date and location of the collision, the engine numbers of the locomotives pictured in Picture 2 and the names of the engineer and fireman who were killed in the accident. Like when I do a Google search it seems that no matter how much information I get I always seem to want more. Were the engineer and fireman that were killed both in the same engine? Was that engine number 411, the engine that was not restored? Was there something about wreck or about the structure of the engine or engines that one engineer and one fireman were killed? Were the other engineer and fireman badly hurt in the collision?

Thanks to west for the date of the movie collision in Picture 1, July 15, 1951 and also for the correction on the engines used. “The real # 319 was used, but not the # 268. The # 345 was repainted to look like # 268 for the wreck scene. Both locos were scrapped in September 1951. The real # 268 survives on display in Gunnison.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/10 09:16 by flynn.