Evening star., 1942-10-01
Detroit Train Speed
placed at As M.P.H.
lin Dickerson Wreck
Engineer Admits FoiIure
To Observe Caution Lioht;
CoIIupses at Hearing

: The Ambassador from Detroit
d; was running As miles an hour when
. 1t rammed the Cleveland Night Ex-
press, according to testimony given
+. Baltimore & Ohio officials, investi-
+. eating the triple train crash at
+: Dickerson last Thursday which is
: believed to have cost 1S lives.
: After Engineer Rufus McClelland
=: of the Ambassador had testified
yesterday that he failed to see a
yellow caution signal warning of
the train ahead. Supt. P. K. Partee
of the Baltimore division, question:
Ing him about speed, said:
+. Your train ran by signal E-36-l4
+. (Which showed red a few yards
from the accident scene) at ap-
!. proximately so miles per hour and
;struck Train 18 (the Night Express
at approximately IS miles per hour"
{. Il guess I got little confused up
there in the fog before I thought
where I was" the engineer re-
.sponded, according to an Associated
Press report from Baltimore, where
:the hearing is being held
. Engineer Collapses.
/. Mr.. McClelland, who has been
charged with involuntary man.
slaughter by Montgomery County
. authorities, collapsed while on the
stand after admitting that he had
mot seen the yellow signal which
, was at the entrance to the block
: above that in which the collision
F. took place-or, roughly a distance
sof mile and half away. He pre-
.viously had testified to seeing the
signal, which indicated the presence
.of the train ahead, and said that
|. he had reduced speed by half, as the
rules required. The Ambassador
struck the night express just inside
: the block where the signal showed
.red and hurled a crowded sleeping
:car into passing freight train.
. Mr.. McClelland's admission about
/. his failure to see the yellow signal
came during examination by F. H.
Haskins, general manager of the
;B. & o.
. The engineer commented that the
.accident would not have happened
If he had had an experienced fire.
man with him because the fireman
would have seen the yellow signal"
Then you did not see the yellow
.signaf as you had previously testi-
.fled?" Mr.. Haskins asked.
Mr.. McClelland turned pale as he
answered No and slumped for
ward in his chair.
. Speed Tape Introduced.
! Officials Immediately cleared the
.hearing room and called a physi-
.cian. States Attorney Ben F. Will
.kinson of Montgomery County said
,afterWard the engineer had tainted.
The hearing was then suspended
until today.
Supt. Partee introduced in evi-
,dence the record speed tape of the
Ambassador Diesel, which showed,
he said, speed of 81 miles per
hour when Mr.. McClelland passed
the yellow signal.
The superintendent added that
the indicator showed the speed of
the Ambassador began to drop grad
ually from point one-quarter of
a mile west Of the bridge across
the Monacacy River to the eastern
end of the bridge. where it was ap-
proximately 81 miles an hour.
1T then gradually reduced to
point where the torpedoes were
struck, when it registered 56 miles
per hour" Mr.. Partee continued.
ut passed the fusees at 54 miles per
hour. (The fusees and torpedoes
had been put out by the Cleveland
train) Mr.. Partee then fixed the
speed at the time of the accident.
Fireman inexperienced.
John P. McCurdy. "a, Diesel elec-
trio supervisor on the Ambassador,
said the windshield wipers on the
front Of the locomotive were not
working at the time and that the
train was running through patches
OF fog.
Paul V. Bowman, fireman on the
Ambassador, said he was regulating
the motors of the locomotive when
the engineer began to make an
emergency stop.
Mr.. Bowman related that he heard
the explosion Of torpedoes two or
three seconds later" and IT put my
head out the window and saw the
reflection of the fusees, the red
signal and the back of the Cleveland
train. I pulled my head in and
yelled to the mechanic to duck as
1T looks like Mac has got him."
Wilson H. Stevens, road foreman
OF engines for the Baltimore divi-
sion, testified that Mr.. Bowman
had made only three previous runs
on Diesel engines and never had re-
ceived more, than preliminary exam
4nation.
Using Younger Men.
Before the war, Mr.. Stevens ex-
planned, hremen were required to
serve one year on the freight trains
before they could qualify for pas
senger service. Because Of the man
power shortage. he added. the rail- |