Ed:
I am writing an article (will be published in the Prospector magazine early in 2007) on the wreck of 492 on Poncha Pass in 1935 in which a crew man and several transients were killed. The fireman of Ditcher OW was killed a day later when it turned over while being used as a wrecker. The D&RGW and ICC could not positively prove the transients caused the accident, but came to the conclusion that it was probably caused by one of them stepping on an angle cock causing it to close.
The Salida newspaper published this editorial a week after the wreck:
Transients
The railroad wreck on Poncha Pass last week appears to have been caused by someone tampering with the airline of the train. Transients, riding on freight cars, are not familiar with the dangers that threaten themselves and the train crew. Tampering with the air system can result in accidents of various kinds. Transients may be seen riding in the door ways of box cars, and not realizing that if a train traveling at high speed should make an emergency stop, the door might slide against their legs and crush them. They can be seen riding on loads of pipes or timbers or other material, which may shift on a curve or in case of sudden stop.
The transients are a menace to the lives of trainmen and to the property of the railroad. There should be some way to put a stop to the practice. Chaffee County will have to pay for the surgical care of those injured in the Poncha Pass wreck and for the burial of the unclaimed dead.
Most of the transients are on the go all the time and have no real destination. Other nations do not permit such trespassing. The state government and the railroads should cooperate to put an end to the practice in this country. Railroad trainmen cannot be expected to handle the situation because they are greatly outnumbered and they are taking their lives in their hands if they attempt to force a gang of transients off a train.
Riding freight trains in the 30s was a common practice. My father rode freights from California back to my hometown in Louisiana in 1937 after he lost his job in San Francisco. He got off the train to get some food in Reno and one of the other boes stole his parka. He rode over the Sierras and the Rockies in the winter in a box car with no coat. Rough life!
