Southeast Expressway Mishap Circa 1970's

I was speaking with an older acquaintance of mine and he mentioned an incident in the late 70's (he believed) where a trainset rolled through a yard, down and embankment and came to rest on the southeast expressway in Boston somewhere in the vicinity of Southhampton Street. Does anyone remember this? I attempted several searches through various media resources and could not find any info on this.

Sure, I remember the incident. It might have been in the 1973 - 74 time frame. There used to be a big loop in the yard that led to a drive through train wash. The NH locomotive and several passenger cars was heading into the wash station when something happened and it went out of control, straight through the barrier at the end of the line, through the chainlink fence and straight across the northbound lane of the expressway. I clearlying remember the pictures in the Boston Globe of the train sitting across the highway.

If I remember correctly, there was no embankment; the yard and expressway were at the same level. In a day or two they had the mess cleaned up and the pavement repaired. I wish I had the presence of mind and the inclination to take the day off from work to watch the operation.

I believe the locomotive was Penn Central, not New Haven, but I could be wrong.

Photos made the front page of all the Boston papers.

Around 1978 or 1979, The Boston Globe put out an insert magazine on the first 100 years of the Globe. In this publication was an arieal photo showing a string of locomotives that had plowed a fairly deep trench into the Southeast Expressway. They almost made it all the way across to the southbound side. It was a color photo in this publication and I think it happend in 1969. There was a caption under the photo explaining the general circumstances of the accident. I do recall that they were Penn Central locomotives. I still have that Boston Globe history, I should see if I can find it.

It happened on August 21, 1969, shortly after the New Haven was absorbed by Penn Central. It was a three-unit set of PC power off the relatively new train from Selkirk via Framingham and Walpole that got away and wound up on the expressway.

Tom, we'd you get the 1969 date? You might be right, but I was pretty sure that I was working in Dorcester at the time which was in the early 70's.

Tom, we'd you get the 1969 date? You might be right, but I was pretty sure that I was working in Dorcester at the time which was in the early 70's. You are probably right on the PC versus NH now that I think of it.

Chuck Gullage (CGRLCDR)

Chuck, I too remember when it happened, but I'm not just trusting memory on that date -- the incident was reported in the November 1969 issue of "Trains".

I've seen that picture....the set went off the turntable track and right out onto the expressway, IIRC. Lead unit was a PC GP-40,if memory serves, and a date of 1972 sticks in my mind. maybe someone can find the picture.

Come on, Xplorer2000, read the posts already made. Tom Nelligan has already said the date was August 21, 1969, and said it was reported in the November 1969 issue of TRAINS. What more do you want? Or are you saying there were two separate incidents? Merry Christmas anyway, LOL!

Now while we're at it, I recently saw an old RAILROAD magazine from the 1940's which had a report of some boxcars being shoved off the end of a track and across a street - that might have been Chicago but I can't be sure. There is a book called THE SNOWFLAKER about a guy working the NYC in Rochester NY in the 1940s and they did the same thing there - shoved a track out into a road, and didn't know it until a trolley motorman came asking how long until they pulled the cars back!

That's got to be one bad feeling, when you realize something ran away or was shoved too far, and it's pretty obvious you're not going to be able to cover it up.

8/21/1969