Feb 12. 1944 Ashtabula collision - any more than ICC?

Do any of you have any additional information about the collision of NYC passenger train and PRR freight at Ashtabula? Such as RR formal investigation, etc...?

As it happens yes I do have some info on this. My dad was the NYC pilot conductor on the Pennsy train. I have been planning on writing this up as an article for the NYCSHS Headlight for years. THe editor told me he does not like to do wreck stories so I kind of shelved it.
The train was the Southwestern Ltd. The pilot engineer was killed by flying debris from the Pennsy cylinders that the NYC engine(L4 # 3137) hit. He was trying to thaw a switch with a fusee.
I have the newspaper copies from the Ashtab. paper, plus my dad made some sketches for paintings that he was going to do.

This was 20 years ago I was working on this...

Paul

That's too bad. Unfortunately wrecks and tragedy are a part of railroad life, and sometimes various operating practices and other facets of "how it was back then" are most easily examined by analyzing things which went wrong.

I have often thought an entire book could be written merely by taking some of the ICC wreck reports and re-writing them into a more textual and reader friendly form. The details and causes are sometimes easily seen, and at other times so far fetched as to be almost unbelievable.

BR&P,

Funny, that was my whole thrust with the the article I was planning...I had the first hand accounts from my dad, and the point was to be how this was just a sting of basically routine events that led to an accident that would have been preventable.

Paul

pjpickard wrote:BR&P,

Funny, that was my whole thrust with the the article I was planning...I had the first hand accounts from my dad, and the point was to be how this was just a sting of basically routine events that led to an accident that would have been preventable.

Paul

I'm sure there are one or more NYC groups on line who would have files set up to share info. You could write it up and post on there and at least the story would be out there for those who care to see it.

There is SO much stuff out there, stories, photos, etc which need to be preserved but are not enough in each case to make a full book or even a full article. I'm working on several books myself, but I find I'm a lot better at starting them and writing 50 or 100 pages of text, than I am at wrapping them up and actually getting them published!