1958 - N&W Locomotive Plunges Down Embankment After Striking Rock Slide in Wythe County Area

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Roanoke Times - January 31, 1958

  N&W Locomotive Plunges Down Embankment After Striking Rock Slide in 
Wythe County Area

Barren Springs, Jan. 30 - Wreck crews this afternoon began preparing 
to retrieve a Norfolk and Western Railway diesel engine unit which 
plowed down an embankment to the edge of New River this morning after 
hitting a rock slide near here at Lone Ash.

Two Crewmen - engineer D. R. Rice and fireman W. W. Vickers - 
suffered bruises and shock when they rode the derailed unit down the 
rocky 25 foot slope. One large boulder remained between the diesel 
unit and the river when the engine came to a halt.
   Lone Ash is about two miles west of this Wythe County community on 
the N&W's North Carolina branch between Pulaski and Galax.
   The diesel engine was pulling a freight train of 13 loaded cars 
and 17 empties toward Galax when it rounded a curve and hit a rock 
slide about 6:30 a.m.
   A section of track torn up by the derailment was restored before 
noon and rail traffic resumed. An engine was brought from Radford and 
took the train on to Galax.
   Four freight trains use the line daily. There is no passenger 
train service on the branch line.
   A derrick is at the scene and the derailed unit probably will be 
lifted back to the tracks some Friday, a railroad spokesman said.

Caption for image:
   N&W spokesmen said the lead control unit of the engine broke away 
from the second unit and plunged down the embankment. No other units 
were derailed.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link
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