Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe 1978 washout on Cajon Pass

A few days ago the subject of the March 6, 1978 washout on Cajon Pass came up in this thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1701846

There's a couple older posts here discussing the details of the disaster as well.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1156147

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,148100,148116#msg-148116

I knew I had some photos taken a few days after the disaster and I found them tonight so I thought I'd post them.

During the winter of January and February 1978, California experienced significant damage from numerous heavy rain storms. I was a young teenager at the time and my biggest worry was whether the rain would lay off a bit on Sunday March 12 as I was booked on Pacific Railroad Society's Barstow Limited excursion that would run from Los Angeles to Barstow and back.

On March 6th, six days before the trip was to commence, all hell broke loose on Cajon Pass when Santa Fe eastbound train 3282 lead by five month old SD40-2 5037 crested the summit of the pass and rumbled through the area around milepost 55 only to have the rain soaked earth below their train suddenly liquify and wash away leaving a massive crater for the train to fall in to.

It was a sad and tragic loss and the trip I had been looking forward to now seemed so trivial compared to the events that were taking place on the pass. Wondering if our excursion was even going to run I was glued to the news and telephone for days until I got word that the shoo-fly was open and the trip was on.

It was a pretty somber sight as we passed just feet from the destruction and gaping hole in the earth on the Barstow Limited. As a teenager whose interest in trains was just getting "serious", it was shocking and sobering seeing my first wreck site.

Years later, when I went to work for the Union Pacific, I made many trips over Cajon Pass while working the Los Angeles trainman's extra board. Not a trip went by that I didn't think of the tragedy I saw there so many years prior. Every time we passed by that spot I thought of the men who perished doing the very thing I was doing at that moment and I wished them well in their ethereal world.

Please forgive the miserable quality of these photos. I only had a crappy Instamatic camera that day and I was shooting color print film so these were the best images I could get off the negatives. Not too great but I don't think I've ever seen any other shots of the wreck taken from the excursion so I thought I'd post them. They are shown in the order that I took them as we traveled eastbound on the temporary track.

Mike

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Three more...

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Last two. The final shot is of the PRS excursion train after it was turned at Barstow and spotted for loading at the depot.

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Those shots just leave me feeling numb. I'm surprised that the 8763 made it through with ANYTHING left, as it was the trailing unit, and all were running elephant style.

A horrible and tragic accident, perhaps Cajon's worst ever. Your images drive that point home succinctly.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

Thanks for sharing the pics, Mike. I remember going up to the area later in March of '78 with my dad and brother on one of our usual Cajon Sunday afternoon trips. Parked near the Martinez Spur area, we could see some of the wrecked autoracks in the distance. I'll have to see if I took any pics with my Vivitar 110 cartridge P&S camera. I recall that entire month being really gloomy and wet.

Rich

I saw that with my Dad, we didn't hear the tragic details til much later.
A friend shot that train earlier the same day at Colton.


TCS

The pix of the PRS Barstow Limited, reminds that I was on duty that day and
was host on one of the buses that gave a tour of our new yard. I remember
Chard Walker, Marti Ann Draper and several other members of PRS, including
MUNDO...Am still a member, #18...been a long time, now...Also, the Special
was the first passenger train to be turned on the Balloon Track...

Those are pretty good shots for an instamatic. That must have been an extremely disastrous wreck. I have never seen locos in pieces like that. Usually they are at least still close to being in one piece. Plus the unfortunate rails who lost their lives in that big hole. Thanks for posting these shots. Just emphasizes some of the dangers of railroading.

C.C.Chas.

The two crew members that died were deadheading to Barstow. They were called to deadhead on a following train, but had arrived early and decided to take the train that fell in the hole. Afterward, Santa Fe issued new instructions that deadheading crews could only ride the train they were called for and none other.

About a year before this deadly accident, a conductor and brakeman were killed near Hesperia when a car of lumber got away. The engine chased the lumber car with the 2 crewmen made a rough joint at a high speed. The lumber load shifted and crushed the 2 men. It wasn't as spectacular, but just as deadly.

I was at work when news came through the dispatchers side-phone at Oxnard. Details were short, and I was so busy working in those days (and trying to stay dry) that I never really heard about the massive wreck after that. So, even all these years later, these were the first photos that I have seen of that mess. I remember the sick feeling I had just hearing about it, and now, with the images... I again feel that same way. Those are powerful photos.

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

bakersfielddave posted what appears to be a newspaper photo of the wreck scene in this old thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1156147

You can see just how narrowly 5037's cab excaped the abyss and inferno.