Railroaders' Nostalgia > SP Train No.101 Harney,NV

August 13, 1939 marks the 78th anniversary of the catastrophic derailment of the "City of San Francisco" at the 5th Humboldt River Crossing in Palisade Canyon.

JLY Wrote:
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> August 13, 1939 marks the 78th anniversary of the
> catastrophic derailment of the "City of San
> Francisco" at the 5th Humboldt River Crossing in
> Palisade Canyon.

Your almost as old as that derailment, Bill

No, it was August 12, 1939, approximately 9:32PM

goldcoast Wrote:
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> No, it was August 12, 1939, approximately 9:32PM

Bill was just testing you.

JBWX

WAF Wrote:
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> JLY Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > August 13, 1939 marks the 78th anniversary of
> the
> > catastrophic derailment of the "City of San
> > Francisco" at the 5th Humboldt River Crossing
> in
> > Palisade Canyon.
>
> Your almost as old as that derailment, Bill

Not quite Wes, I have 11 and !/2 years seniority on the, yes, August 12 1939 derailment.
I remember this site quite vividly as I was privy to being taken by my next door neighbor who was an official in the BLM to view the SP steam pile driver and Carlin Hood on about August 15 or 16 picking up the mess from the river to be able too drive a temporary bridge to replace the 5th humboldt Crossing to get back in service as they were single tracking on the WP at the time.
Got to know this site very well as I owned it as Division Engineer and Superintendent from August 1965 until August 1989.

Unsolved to this day, as is, I believe, the similarly done wreck of the Sunset Limited in the '90s. I know a fellow who was interviewed and given a lot of Federal grief following that one. Among other things, I think he wound up on a terrorist list.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

I've always wondered up really happened. One rumor that was around for years had the real cause due to speeding.

displacedneb Wrote:
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> I've always wondered up really happened. One rumor
> that was around for years had the real cause due
> to speeding.


If you want to derail a train by making a rail joint into a split point derail the speed of the train passing over it become irrelevant. The unanswered question to this day remains not how but who.

agentatascadero Wrote:
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> Unsolved to this day, as is, I believe, the
> similarly done wreck of the Sunset Limited in the
> '90s.

...and BN (freight train) No 82 at Snohomish WA ~1980 and an an attempt on BN No 82 east of Gold Bar WA and a dissimilar attempt on No 82 at Scenic involving sabotage of the fans and tunnel door.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
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> agentatascadero Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Unsolved to this day, as is, I believe, the
> > similarly done wreck of the Sunset Limited in
> the
> > '90s.
>
> ...and BN (freight train) No 82 at Snohomish WA
> ~1980 and an an attempt on BN No 82 east of Gold
> Bar WA and a dissimilar attempt on No 82 at Scenic
> involving sabotage of the fans and tunnel door.
>
> TAW

There are more unsolved cases than I knew. One thing for sure, these are the work of someone who knows what they're doing.....someone who knows railroading.......hence all with such knowledge are suspects to be ruled out. It's hard to imagine just how many disgruntled present or former railroaders there are out there, but I'd be focused on the disgruntled, not the good eggs.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Don't have my notes with me right now, but in doing WWII research I ran into a brief mention of a troop train wreck (May 1943, I think, can't be sure but think SP?) caused by sabotage. You'd think there would have been more about it in history books, but there isn't.

Given recent threats to rail travel, I won't mention the apparent cause, but it also had to be a person familiar with railroading.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

agentatascadero Wrote:
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> There are more unsolved cases than I knew.
> One thing for sure, these are the work of someone
> who knows what they're doing.....someone who knows
> railroading.......hence all with such knowledge
> are suspects to be ruled out. It's hard to
> imagine just how many disgruntled present or
> former railroaders there are out there, but I'd be
> focused on the disgruntled, not the good eggs.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-08-17/features/8603010576_1_engine-switchman-conrail-lines


But on the other hand, read my stuff here. I would certainly have been identified as a disgruntled employee. It takes more than just that.

TAW

TAW, Sounds like you were never contacted. I wonder how many were.......thinking of the Sunset sabotage in particular.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA