Like many serious derailments due to excessive speed(the D&RGW did not allow them the be referred to as "wrecks"), this runaway occurred not long after the train proceeded downgrade from the summit, Peak (Dallas Divide), going to Ridgway. The boxcars were loaded with coal (to keep the wet coal from freezing solid) and was waybilled for the Soviet Union, of all places.
The acciident happened after dark. No clear reason was cited. Perhaps the cars had excessive brake travel, not all of the retainers were up or the wheels were frosty, all good reasons for a runaway. I have heard other assertions, but we can stay with these. The train was totally destroyed, including caboose 0404. Discretion is the better part of valor, and the entire crew "joined the birds" (jumped). The only injury was conductor John Crum, who broke a hip in the jump. There were several reasons that the locomotive was not salvaged immediately. The wreck was a huge mess, and took some time to clear. The locomotive was basically under a pile of wrecked cars. The coal also was picked up for shipment. It was the onset of winter, so cutting a track to the locomotive, which was some distance from the main line, had to be postponed. Finally, 1943 and '44 were the last busy years on the RGS. 1943 was a very bad year for derailments. RGS 40 and 20 overturned at Hesperus earlier that year. and 40 was never repaired. 455 was eventually repaired in 1947 employing a cab and tender fronm standard gauge D&RGW 933. This gave the rebuilt 455 a very different look from its sister engines. The tender was top-heavy, causing a few derailments. The last year 455 operated it had 452's tender.
The D&RGW had few derailents due to runaways in the 20th century. The worst involved 492 getting away on Marshall Pass with a heavy train in 1935, killing all five crew members. Another more recent case was a runaway west of Tennessee Pass that claimed two lives in 1992.There were plenty of whispered tales of near-runaways in the last days of D&RGW operations over Cumbres. All enginemen going down a steep grade have a healthy respect for the hill, and we often repeat the reality-check "The but for the Lord go I" when hearing such tales. Some good friends had some first hand experience with such things, but were fortunate enough to regain control of their trains. Such experiences were only whispered about, so an investigation could be avoided. Nevertheless oficials usually heard such rumors, and instead of questioning a crewman directly would elliptically discuss it by asking an individual for his "advice" on handling such train in a district with steep ruling grades. I was always nervous the first two miles of descending any steep grade. Then I could determine the operating characteristics of a particular train consist, and would relax somewhat. The rest of it was up to "God and Westinghouse".
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2007 06:28PM by El Coke.
