The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1957-12-06

an east bound freight train
ID creek trestle, derailing 81
! cutting torches broke out in
q spread through the wreck
their contents before the fire
men and five engines and other
apparatus from the Brookneal and
Charlotte c. II. fire departments
brough the fire under control
seven hours later.
The firemen had to use bull
dozers and cutting torches to force
their way into burning cars The
| fire started in a carload Of l.9g
feed
80 Cars Plunged Over
\ The 59-car train, en- route I'd
Norfolk. passed through Brook
neal at l:04 a m. Monday. With
in IS minutes, it had derailed
plunged 80 cars into the Cub creek
bed. and deiIicks and other sal
wage equipment were on their way
from Roanoke and Victoria.
Five men narrowly escaped
death IN the smashup. b. E. Low
ern, Of Roanoke, the engineer,
Dave Mattox. Jr Of Victoria, the
fireman, and w. c. Tucker, Of
Victoria, the brakeman. were rid
in IN the cab of the engine. In
III caboose were conductor Alex
Munford and flagman Ed Daniels.
both Of Victoria.
I Lovern felt the split rail as the
engine crossed it on the trestle,
and applied all emergency brak-
NJ power The trains speed car
RED the tWo-diesel locomotive
units on across the trestle and
around bend.
Head Cars, Left on Track
Six head cars were left standing
on the track, and the next II cars
derailed east Of the trestle. Two
rear cars and the caboose stopped
/ on the west end of the torn trestle.
/ The plunging freight cars rip
ped UP the rails and ties, and two
! spans OF the bridge. one so feet
lo-.e. the other 80 feet long, were
completely destroyed. Approx
mately IS car lengths of track
were also total loss.
( Cars Of salt. paint. motor oil.
Naval machinery, refrigerators.
auto parts, ammonia. meal. lum-
Der, grading, butter. car wheels
and beer were among the lot
4 Up To Knees In Corn
/ Thirteen cars of corn left up
-knees-walkine piles alongside
the entertainments.
/ Twelve carloads of coal dyed the
creek murky black. A carload OF
butter. 100000 pounds of it, val
ued at $4,000 rested its end in
the cold water keeping its ice froz-
en-. The butter car was one of
those destroyed In the fire.
! Individual packages of com
flakes were flung hundreds of feet
from the trestle. A little rain. and
they were soggier than yesterdays
half finished breakfast.
/ Two cars loaded with cases of
beer we're focal points for the
thousands Of sightseers who in
vaded the area. One Charlotte
county youth was apprehended by
railroad detectives after he tried
TO make off with a case. He was
lodged in the Charlotte c. H. Jail
The Wreckage was Glossy guarded.
removal Of any of the load il
federal offense. since it comes un-
der interstate-commerce jurisdlc-
ton.
Damages Unknown
No estimates were available of
tfe damage. but is is expected 10
b. well over a million dollars. HI
Gliding about S250,000 to the
trestle. and sizeable sums in car
gceS and equipment.
steel bridgemen. carpenters.
wteckins crews - 100 men in all
- were rushed in from Roanoke
and Victoria Monday to begin the
salvage and repair operations.
Monday night, a road was bull
dozed through the wreckage under
tfe trestle SO that salvage trucks
could reach the freight cars.
The line carries no mail OF pas
sengers, and makes few stops be-
tween Norfolk and Roanoke viz
einlan district superintendent J.
z Strickland, Of Victoria. estimat-
ca that IL Well take at least a week
to clear the main line and but it