Williams news., 1905-02-25
TRACK
 AT RIO PUERCO

tenuer oI passenger engine and nine heavy coaches off the track and gradually sinking in the soft mud is the condition that confronts the Santa Fe in the low country few miles west of Rio Puerco, the station thirty-four miles from this city on the Santa Fe Pacific.
 Passenger train No. 7, the San Francisco fast train which was run ming behind time and did not leave Albuquerque until 1:5O o'clock Sun day morning, struck a stretch of soft track at the point mentioned about half-past three o'clock. Be- fore the train could be brought to standstill the tender and nine cars of the train were on the ties and tore up the track for full one hun dred and fifty yards. Two heavy freight engines which approached from the west later were derailed by the sinking of the track while endeavoring to aid the wrecked passenger train.
 The locomotive and the Pullman sleeper on the rear of the train re- mained on the rails. None of the coaches so much as turned over on the side and not soul on board was seriously hurt. There was con sternation, however. for a minute or two after the horrible jarring which came when the wheels hit the ties and there were some badly scared passengers. Those who were in the sleeper received the brunt of the shock. y-
 Train No. i, which was behind time, followed No. and conveyed Tall the passengers and the: standard :. sleeper back to this city. The Pull man was pulled back on the rails by the engine on No. 1 and the train was backed into the Albu- querque station to join the other trains from the east.
 The wrecked train was in charge of Conductor Hall. That a serious wreck did not occur was due to the careful running of the engineer, who, knowing the track was in softened condition, ran slower than the schedule time.
 Two big wrecking crews we're im- mediately brought to the scene of the disaster, one from Gallup and one from this city. They have a herculean undertaking before them because the whole country in that vicinity is thoroughly water soaked and the heavy engines and coaches are sinking so deep in the mud that it will be a serious proposition lasting probably several days to get the rolling stock on a solid track again. A shoo-fy is being built around the wreck, and it was an- nounced early this morning that trains might possibly get out for the west by six o'clock. It is more likely, however, to be much later.
 The Santa Fe has been in hard luck of late and the wrecks along the road have been numerous. A few nights since train dispatcher came within an ace of causing bad wreck near Algodones. He gave an extra freight orders to leave which stated that No. 7 was an hour and thirty minutes late, but as luck would have it the two trains saw each other on the tangent near AL godones. The freight backed to the nearest siding and let No. 7 go by..
 All of the trains for the west wess about on schedule last night, and the yards were full of passenger coaches. The California Limited remained sidetracked in the yards in this city for about twelve hours. The passengers on the delayed trains, including Adolphus Busch, the millionaire brewer, and other we'll known people took the matter philosophically and had the jolliest time possible in Albuquerque. All were grateful to the Santa Fe com pany for leaving the trains in this