Red Arrow Train
Channel: pippinaloha
Date: 21/01/2014

"Red Arrow Train"-  written November 2012, by Chuck Cox and Jason Teel.
     
     On February 18, 1947, before dawn, a passenger train, The "Red Arrow", went off its tracks just east of the Gallitzin Tunnels on the Pennsylvania Railroad.  At least 120 people were injured, and 24 lost their lives in the wreck, which left only 4 cars still on the tracks, as the rest had tumbled into Gum Tree Hollow at Bennington Curve...   The images show the extent of the damage and the rescue operations immediately undertaken on that grim day.
     The song was inspired one day while going through boxes of old pictures from my grandparents. I found an envelope with my grandfather's writing on it saying "Red Arrow wreck"...  Inside were negatives and some pictures he took that day.  He was sent to the site to get some photos for the newspaper to report the tragedy...
     My friend, Jason Teel, a West Virginia songwriter, of "Reverend Willard's Acoustic Circus", and formerly of "The Hillbilly Gypsies", and a fellow train enthusiast, co-wrote and recorded this song with me last winter, and we decided to enter it in the 2013 Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest, and it took 2nd Place.  Such a lovely surprise, and we hope that it may add to the ever-growing record of our local railroad heritage.
   Some images in this presentation are available to order in higher clearer quality, through "Bill's Pennsy Photos" http://www.billspennsyphotos.com/aboutme.htm   and I would shamelessly encourage anyone seeing this who'd like to purchase their own archival quality images to please visit his impressive website, and the many others out there...  Apart from the musical content, I do not claim ownership or the intention to profit from this presentation, only to promote history through its content.
    
Enjoy!  And thank you so much for visiting!