Nostalgia & History > Wrecks on the Santa Fe from old newspaper clippings....

Some old paper clippings of wrecks some very serious along the ATSF.......

this page of the Redondo accident dated 1956

---

A UP passenger came to grief near Victorville dated Dec 19 1946........

---

a view of the challenger type loco near victorville 1946.....

---

santa fe train wreck near robinson new mexico......paper stated springerville N.M dated Sep 5 1956.....

---

Azusa Calif dated Oct 29 1950......possibly the 'super chief'.....note the retouching done by the newspaper.....2 pictures included.

Anyone from LA know what happened......?

---

azusa 2

---

Check Here: http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/ and select I.C.C. Historical Railroad Investigation Reports (1911-1966)
Africansteam

The collection is missing a number of wrecks. I sent them an email once to find out why and got some kind of stupid automated response that didn't tell me anything. However, it is better than nothing.

I think this is the UP #3, Transcon at Leon..the 35mph curve just east of the river bridge...72 mph around a 35mph curve..this report is available on ICC 1946 RR reports. Look for AT&SF as this was their RR...

Trains Magazine did a great story on the Robinson wreck a few years ago. The eastbound Fast Mail was in the hole with the westbound Chief approaching. While most of the sidings in that area were protected by spring switches, this one was not and required manual operation. A very tragic story in which the fireman of the Fast Mail got disoriented and threw the switch at the last moment, sending the Chief head-on into the mail on the siding. I believe the toll was 22 dead, mostly in a dorm car on the Fast Mail which, according to Trains, was an "unreinforced" early streamliner. Robinson siding was a few miles south of Springer but was removed after this incident.

Here's my contribution to the thread. I hope this picture loads correctly since I haven't done this for some time.

---

Using the TRAINS article as a guide, I found the exact location of the Robinson, NM wreck. The exact point of impact is right under where a small powerline crosses the track now. I went looking around and to my surprise I saw some laminated window glass and broken pieces of thick ceramic laying around in the sagebrush, as well as some metal pieces and a car spring, all baking under the relentless sun. Aside from that, the location is unmarked and rather unremarkable; it is a bit hard to find unless you have the TRAINS article. - - - - - - JLH

According to Loren Joplin, the train is the El Capitan with F3 ABBA set 19LABC, it hit a broken rail near a turnout and piled-up at 70+ mph.
Tom Helliwell

Wreck at Kincaid, Ca is covered here:

http://www1.librarydigital.com/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_railroads