New Britain herald., 1917-08-31
Rails Twisted and Smashed and
Roadbed Ripped Up by Cars
LIKE IMMATURE QUAKE
MoSul Locomotive Remains on Tracks
While Tons of Coal, Steel and Pig
Iron Drag in Its Wake-Accident at
Berlin Branch Switch.

Spreading rails and a roadbed
| washed partly away and weakened by
the torrential downpour of the past
| two days are believed to have been
| responsible for the wrecking of an
extra freight train which jumped the
! tracks and partially overturned when
opposite the depot at 5:45 o'clock this
| morning. The freight bound from
| Maybrook, N. Y. to East Hartford,
was in charge Of Conductor Edward
| O'Connell and was proceeding at a
slow rate of speed as it passed
through the local freight yards, other
! wise the story of the accident might
! have been much more tragic. AS it
| is, not a single person was injured, al
though the roadbed for several hum
dred feet was completely torn up and
debris was scattered all along the
! tracks while for several hours all
traffic had to be switched onto track
| No. 2.
From a spectacular point of view
this mornings wreck left but little
to be desired. Ten Of the cars in
the train which were laden with coal
were derailed. The roadbed, tracks
and ties from the waiting room door
of the depot to the water tower were
completely torn asunder. The heavy
steel rails were ripped, twisted and
broken as strong man might bend
and twist a piece Of heavy iron wire.
The station platform, where the heavy
cars ground into the planking, was
cut to splinters and entire sections Of
ties and rails on an adjacent track
were pushed out of the ground and
lifted into the air. Three Of the
biggest cars in the freight train, steel
+ structure each weighing 10000
pounds, left the tracks completely and
buried themselves in the earth, the
trucks and running gear sinking into
the ground three and four feet In
some places. The wrecker and a gang
of the wrecking crew were sent from
Hartford
Precise Cause OF Wreck Unknown.
Freight Agent J. r. Cosgritf stated
that until a complete investigation
has been made he will be unable to
ascertain the exact cause of the
wreck. It could be attributed to
many things, he said. among which
| might be splitting a switch, spread
ing rails a weak roadbed and weak
rails, or possibly a defective or broken
hange on the wheel of one of the
cars.
Ten of the eleven cars in the wreck
were filled with hard coal, but only
a surprisingly small amount was
spilled alongside the tracks as mono
of the cars completely overturned.
The 11th car was loaded with pig
iron. The big freight locomotive did
not leave the rails.
The place where the wreck occur
red is near the switch where the Ber-
lin Branch tracks and the Hartford
line tracks part. There is gradual
bend of the tracks at this point, the
Hartford bound tracks swerving to
the north. The rails here are old
ones and the roadbed, it is said, is
not very substantial so it is assumed
in some quarters that the tracks
either collapsed or spread under the
terrific strain of this heavily laden
train. Had not the train been pro-
ceedng at a slow rate of speed the
wreck would have been much worse
and had the accident occurred when
a passenger train, probably proceed
ing at much faster rate of speed,
was passing through the city, another
railroad horror might have resulted.
A large crowd of curious onlookers
quickly gathered at the scene and
all during the time which the wreck
ink crew was making repairs scores
of people stood around, causing con-
siderable annoyance to the workers
and giving the detail of policemen
some work in holding them back.