Steam & Excursion > Remember boiler explosion of T&P 616?

A picture of the rebuilt engine was posted by me a couple of weeks ago and one person asked for details about the explosion. It took a while to get them.

Here goes: 616 was westbound 10 miles west of Odessa Texas at 3:20 pm on Nov 24 1947. Eye witness on US highway 80 next to the track said the train was running between 35 to 40 MPH. All of a sudden a tremendous explosion occurred that was extremely loud and he saw the boiler of the engine fly up in the air and cart wheel end over end 300 YARDS down the track off to the right side without its cab or running gear. The cab had flown about 40 feet right of the track and inside it was the dead engineer and fireman. Out to the left side of the track was a dead head brakeman. Two teen age boys rabbit hunting at the time of the explosion ran home to tell their parents of the explosion.

There are some pictures in the Odessa American newspaper but they are so dark they would not be legible if posted. One does show the running gear of 616 and the tender not damaged, still on the track. A description of the scene said railroad ties were crushed for yards and the rails at the site of the blast were depressed from the force of the explosion. Metal debris was scattered everywhere including parts of boiler jacket hung up in wires on poles along the track. A line side signal steel post was twisted but the glass in the signal was not damaged.

The boiler went deep into the ground and was still warm two hours after the explosion. Names of the dead are included in the story but, I don't see reason to post them. The accident was also covered by the Midland Reporter-Telegram and the Big Spring Daily Herald. The crew was from Big Spring. Ages were engineer 40, fireman 29 and brakeman 21.

I have to thank a good friend of mine Reg Cranford of Big Spring for chasing the story at those news papers.

Was this a typical low water / crown sheet failure?

Yes, that is about the only thing that could cause this explosion and forward pitch of the boiler.