Fritz Klinke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Christian needs to do some research on the
> railroad he works for. There was a fairly serious
> injury on the Nomad derailment as I recall, and it
> was from a mis-thrown switch. There has been at
> least one D&S railroad employee killed at Rockwood
> getting off a moving passenger train (Bobby
> Huffman, D&S Roadmaster, 1986). I don't recall the
> details but I believe there were several
> fatalities on the Silverton branch during the 20th
> Century and certainly in the last 136 years. A
> glib response to make things look good does not
> reflect well on Christian.
I don't remember the year, but it was in the early 1990's when the B-3 rolled over. My wife and I were one our annual late summer narrow gauge circle tour. We had a late morning start out of Chama and spent the day on the ROW to Durango, holing gup for the night at the Super 8 south of town. The D&S was "old hat" nothing much new ever happened there, all they ran were K36's, just like the ones at home.... who cares.
We were up and out pretty early the next morning to "do" the RGS. After a long day of driving, 4-wheeling and hiking, we tied up in Montrose for the night. I was in the bath enjoying a nice long soak with the TV on in the room broadcasting the local Grand Junction News, when I heard the announcer say "...and when we come back we will have and update on the train wreck on the Durango and Silverton RR that resulted in at least one serious injury..." WHAT!!!!! I was out of the tub in a heartbeat standing there dripping all over the carpet, when the story came back on with pics of the B-3 on its side....
This happened when the afternoon Cascade Train was running. The outgoing Cascade met trains 462 and 464 going out in the afternoon. 464 was met at newly re-created Pinkerton Siding between Hermosa and Rockwood. 462 met the Cascade Train at Home Ranch, which had been laid down recently also. the meet was real tight at Home Ranch. I saw it go down several times. 462 would ease up to the switch, the head end brakie would line them in, the rear brakeman would line behind. By this time the Cascade train was charging down their throats at 20 mph. There was less than 2 minutes most times. Once I saw the switch being lined as the Cascade pounded the points at the far end of Home Ranch.
Big Time Narrow Gauge Railroading....
When happened was the rear brakeman on 462 got in a hurry to get in the clear unloaded from the switchstand side, opened the lock and lined the switch under the B-3. The front truck went down the main, the rear went down the siding. The result was inevitable.....
After this the D&S installed point locks on all the mainline siding switches. So, in addition to unlocking and throwing the switch, the crewman has to step into the gauge, unlock the point lock, then step back and throw the switch.
If I recall one passenger on the B-3 got a broken back in the ordeal.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2017 07:48AM by Earl.
