The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-14
TRAFFIC BLOCKED FOR HOURS.
WRECK TIES UP CENTRAL AND
NEW HAVEN RAILROADS.
Driving wheel Rim on h Boston Mail
Locomotive Breaks and the Train Is
wrecked nc the Rock Cut where the
Two Roads Come Together in n Bronx

~ WNS
Locomotive Breaks and the Train Is
Wrecked nc the ROck cut where the
Two Roads Come Together in The Bronx
The outward boun nd train service Of both
the New York Central and New Haven
railroads was in a tangle most Of yester-
day through the wreck Of Train 20, known
as the Boston Mail, at l6lst street and Park
avenue.
The Boston Mail, which carries 40 pas
sengers, was due Ito arrive at the Grand
Central Station at 4;13 o'clock yesterday
morning. c. c. Ross, the conductor, found
that he was behind time and orders were
given to Engineer J. J.. Kennedy to "let
her out"
The Central and New Haven tracks meet
for the run into the terminal at the rock
cut at lo1st street.
Kennedy obeyed orders, and the train
was making about forty-five miles an hour
when il hit the cut and passed over a series
Of frog switches. Whether the rim OF one
of the driving wheels or the locomotive
had worked loose or whether 10 was torn
loose by one Of the switches is not known,
but the rim came of and tangled itself up
in the machinery of the locomotive. q.
The locomotive jumped the tracks and
dragged its tender after it,. For three
blocks 10 tore up ties n rails before 1t
stopped and toppled over. ~
No one was killed. but Fireman w. G.
Flint, who jumped when the machine
left the tracks, had his left arm broken and
Kennedy was badly cut n bruised. The
train was made up Of five coaches and the
first two coaches turned over with the
locomotive About twenty mail clerks
were at work in the two cars and they
were nearly all treated for cuts and bruises
by ambulance surgeons. The mail in the
cars was scattered along the tracks for q
distance of three blocks.
Tn noise of the wreck attracted a great
crowd. Supt. Ira A.. Mccormick. who
arrived early on a wrecking train. sent IN a
call for police reserves. The crowd had
grown to such numbers when the police came
that more policemen were summoned from
other precincts.
The three coaches left on the tracks were
shunted to the roundhouse at Melrose.
The locomotive of the Boston Mail was a
complete wreck, as were the cars, ana
the wrecking crew devoted their first efforts
to getting them on the tracks 70 one side.
The wrecked train ripped up not only
its own track but one other incoming
track. This left only one track open for
incoming traffic and all trains were switched
to this and run into the station under a
minutes Roadway. Outbound traffic was
completely choked and orders were tele-
graphed TO the Grand Central station 70
hold trains until the wreckers hadka chance
TO clear the way.
The new third rail electric suburban
service really had its first chance yester-
day, and because of this wreck the be-
ginning was not a success. The Boston
Mail had torn away a bit of the third rail
and the police were kept busy watching
TO see hat no one stepped on IL. The
wrecke1s we're able to get n Of the out
ward bound tracks clear by s O'Clock and
trains we're sent out after that hour, some
of them four hours late.
II was noon before Supt. Mccormick
got all the racks cleared and in working
order.