Another Pile Up on the SVRy, April 24, 1919

A reader of the NG Diss. Forum contacted me back channel and suggested I post another wreck story from the SVRy employee records so here it is. On April 24, 1919, engine 50 was eastbound with 30 loaded cars coming down off of Larch Summit toward the Sumpter Valley. Engineer Theodore Line recounted that he had the train under control until 1.25 miles above MP 32 which is 3 miles below the summit when he ran out of air to recharge the train line as main reservoir pressure was at 40 lbs. At MP32, the place of the accident his speed had reached something between 35 and 45mph. He had called for hand brakes, but they did no good. On a curve, the first 7 cars behind the engine derailed turning over, all listed as badly damaged. 6 of the cars were Baker White Pine cars loaded with logs, and one SVRy car loaded with company materials. Surprisingly the only damage to the engine was that the front tender truck ended up out of the center bearing. 25-30 ties were broken and the conductors ankle was badly sprained. Nothing in the material indicates what management concluded about the wreck, or if any disciplinary action was taken with the engineer. Engineer Line had worked for the C&S out of Denver from 1913-1914 and for the D&SL out of Denver from 1914-1919. He hired out with the SVRy Feb. of 1919. Eng. 50 had a single 11" air pump. The profile maps show the grade around MP32 to be 3.875. So what do you guys who are experienced trainmen think? Engineer error, pissing his air away, or perhaps the air pump failed. How long a train would a single 11 air pump be good for?




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2017 07:28PM by J.B.Bane.