Steam & Excursion > While Some Railroads Scenery Was Beautiful, It Was Dangerous Too!

There are many parts of the railroads that run in the Western part of the United States that experience some of the most dramatically beautiful scenery imaginable.  It is easy to envy the crews who are lucky enough to operate trains in these parts on a regular basis.  However, we mus also remember the danger that goes along with that spectacular scenery.

Western Pacific's Feather River Canyon Route certainly has to rank near the top of any list of the most beautiful stretches of rail anywhere in the West.  However, this canyon, with it's steep cliffs and many tunnels was prone to numerous rock slides that posed a constant danger for any crews operating in this territory.  We see the fate of one of WP's 2-8-2's in the Feather River Canyon that hit one of these rock slides at enough speed to send the engine, her crew and the head-end cars cascading down towards the river below.

Unfortunately there is no date for this photo, and the locomotive is too badly damaged to make out what number she is.  This wreck does not match the photos of the Exposition Flyer wreck of January, 1941.  This just goes to show, how often the crews speeding along the rails in this scenic stretch of railroad, were forced to focus on the track ahead rather than the beautiful surroundings they found themselves in.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 02:58 by LoggerHogger.

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Wow and yikes would have to have been very scary for the crew hope they survived somehow.

Posted from Android

Wow what ever they hit it was big enough to remove the pilot. 

Cab is crushed too.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the 325,  scrapped in 1939 after being wrecked in 1937 in Pulga, California. Both engineer and fireman were killed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:52 by Txhighballer.

Is it my imagination, or is boiler caved in or twisted above the first to sets of drivers?

Posted from Android

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

I think she has just lost her sheet metal and exposed all the staybolts.  Doubtful the boiler is twisted.

Txhighballer Wrote:
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> I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the
> 325,  scrapped in 1939 after being wrecked in
> 1937 in Pulga, California. Both engineer and
> fireman were killed.

The ICC report supports your statement. On November 11, 1937 in a heavy rain at 2:40AM Eng 325 on train No. 2 hit a rock 
east of tunnel 9 between Poe and Pulga. The rock, estimated to weigh 3 tons was shoved 233' before a rail broke and derailed the engine.
The river was 210' below the level of the rails.

Charlie
 

The SP&S 700's engine crew was much luckier when it stubbed its toe on a huge boulder near Redd, Washington over seven decades ago.  Fortunately the engine dug into the slope of the steep hillside instead of rolling way down into the Snake River below.  The boulder's mark remains on the pilot to this day.  The picture of the pilot was taken as it was laying on the roundhouse floor after having been removed from the 700 to allow the pony truck to be rolled out.

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