Nostalgia & History > Some new BN, wrecked BN and old BN

1. Less than a month old BN SD40-2 8132 at Interbay, WA 7-8-80. In a power set of 8132/2516/2081 (SD40-2/GP35/GP38-2) What was pretty common back then seems a lot more special now.
    
2. BN wrecker D-253 working the head on wreck at South Seattle, WA 10-11-77 that destroyed three BN units and one Western Pacific GP35. From what I recall D-253 is ex-CB&Q.
    
3. BN C425 4262 at Interbay, WA 8-16-77. Built as SP&S 324.
   
   Brian Ambrose
   Yakima, WA

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Interesting! Thank you for sharing!

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

Love the Industrial Brownhoist in action... Thanks for posting...

Great imagery Brian…thank you for posting. What were the details on the wreck at south Seattle? That was before my time and I don’t k ow anything about it.

I especially like the big hook footage too, they are my favorite.

BN D-253 was a Great Northern wrecker, originally the GN X1740…a 250 tonner built in 1947.

Texican65 Wrote:
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> What were the details on the wreck at south Seattle?

Head-on collision between trains 138 and 143 on October 8, 1977.  Four WP units were involved (probably all on train 138).  One was destroyed and written off immediately, another wrecked but not written off for a couple of years, and another ran around with a bent frame until later stored.  I don't know the details behind the collision.  TAW probably knows.

I had to look twice at the photo above, at first I thought Amtrak was involved!  But I guess it is just crawling past the accident scene.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/24 15:06 by billmeeker.

billmeeker Wrote:
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> Texican65 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
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> > What were the details on the wreck at south
> Seattle?
>
> Head-on collision between trains 138 and 143 on
> October 8, 1977.  Four WP units were involved
> (probably all on train 138).  One was destroyed
> and written off immediately, another wrecked but
> not written off for a couple of years, and another
> ran around with a bent frame until later stored. 
> I don't know the details behind the collision. 
> TAW probably knows.

I was working Centralia that night, reading the play be play on teletype reports to the trainmaster.

There was no Seattle Terminal dispatcher district back then (I was one of the instigators of making it happen). Centralia North was 251. Black River tower - Galer Street was 251 Yard limits except no signals between roughly Royal Brougham and South Portal. Towers at Black River, Argo, Spokane Street (on the Colorado), South Portal, and North Portal pretty much ran trains where they wanted to go when they showed up. In 251, signals supersede the superiority of trains, but nothing in the terminal was fixed as a train, so Yard Limit rules required trains to clear the time of First Class. Everything else was fair game, so it could take hours to move between Black River and Interbay. Want to get out on the main or cross over? Simple; flop the dolly, wait five, do your thing. It was a railroad that nobody was running.

So 138 pulls up the the center crossover at South Seattle (removed after the wreck, long before the current configuration - sight distance was close to zero). 143 was Sumas-Auburn back then, NP still being alive and well in different color green paint. The head man on 138 lined the northbound switch of the crossover, walked over to the southbound switch and lined it for the crossover. If I remember correctly, the next southound track signal was around Military Road. 143 was by it. That's why the wait five thing. Here comes 143 at 50ish mph, the crossover lined and the head man not there to put it back (but he shouldn't have it lined in the first place). 143 doesn't even have the sight distance to get a hold of it and went through the crossover at close to track speed.

Yup, the WP power was on 138. If I remember correctly, the fire was so hot that the rails had to be cut to get the lead unit out.

TAW

TAW covered most of what happened but I will add that 143 was running cab hop otherwise it probably would have been worse.  I'd also heard that the engineer of 138 was between the lead and second of 138 separating hoses as the four WP units were going to be left at South Seattle for a southbound to pick up later.  He was luckily thrown clear.  BN 2510 and WP 3007 (both GP35's) were the lead units of 138 and the 2510 shoved back into the 3007.  BN F7A 730 and GP7 1630 were leading two other F-units on 143 and both destroyed.

Brian

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anyone killed?

brc600 Wrote:
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> anyone killed?

No one killed, injuries to the crew on the 730 though.
Brian