Trains involved in N&W collision at Rural Retreat VA, 10/20/1920

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks for sharing this wreck report as well as your supplemental thoughts, Alex:

Frank Scheer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Trains involved in N&W collision at Rural Retreat VA, 10/20/1920 
From: Alexander Schneider Jr
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 03:24:32 EST 

ICC Accident Report 731 describes a head-on collision on October 20, 1920 between Norfolk & Western Railway passenger trains 37 and 14 at Rural Retreat, VA. This resulted in the death of 3 employees and injury to 11 passengers, 3 employees, 2 mail clerks, 1 conductor and 1 porter of the Pullman Co. and 1 express messenger. In the opinion of the ICC examiner “This accident was caused by train no. 14 taking the siding at Rural Retreat to meet No. 37 when by rule it should have held the main track. For this, Engineman Pyeritz is responsible….Conductor Newman and Brakeman Martin also share in the responsibility for this accident in that they did not stop the train immediately when they discovered that the train had improperly taken the siding.”

The testimony of surviving crew members on train 14 indicates that the brakes were not applied until just before the crash. Although train 14 had stopped to operate the switch at the west end of the siding, it had reached a speed of about 20 miles per hour in the 1600 feet to the point of collision, visibility being obstructed by two curves, first right, then left, and descending a 1.2 percent grade. Train 37 had started up from the depot and proceeded about 2,000 feet, running at between 10 and 12 miles per hour at the time of the collision.

Engineman Pyeritz of train No. 14 and Engineman Linkous and an unnamed fireman of train No. 37 were the employees killed. Presumably the mail clerks were in the mail car and the Pullman employees in the Pullman car, both in train 14. The location of the other injured crew members and passengers is not indicated. 

Westbound local passenger train No. 37 was shown as follows. 
Engine 558 – engineman and fireman killed
Penna. Baggage 5524 – wood -- demolished
N&W baggage 423 – wood – crushed at its west (head) end
N&W baggage 439 – steel reinforced side and center sills
N&W baggage 449 – wood
N&W coach 1208 -- ? – all steel
N&W coach 1640 – all steel
N&W coach 1612 – all steel
N&W baggage 254 – wood

Eastbound passenger train No. 14 was shown as consisting of all steel cars as follows.
Engine 102 – engineman Pyeritz killed, fireman Walton jumped out before collision
N&W mail car 1210 –east (head) end mashed in about 4 feet; 2 clerks injured
N&W baggage car 1321 
N&W coach 1639 – Conductor Newman
N&W coach 1613 – Trainman Martin
N&W coach 1614  
Pullman car FLAMINGO -- ? – two Pullman employees injured

The last is curious as the only Pullman car named Flamingo, according to Ralph Barger, “A Century of Pullman Cars”, vol. 1, was a 24 chair, drawing room, buffet parlor car of plan 1518C, lot 2553. This was a wooden car built in 1900, which ran until 1928. Barger does not indicate that it ever received steel underframe and vestibule (SUV) or steel sheathing. Given that train 14 left Bristol VA, its point of origin, at 6:30 AM, a parlor car with a buffet would have been reasonable, but it is surprising that the investigation either listed the wrong car or failed to note that it was of wood construction. As at least the two injured Pullman employees were in this car, presumably there was considerable run-in of slack when the train abruptly stopped.

Judging by a roster obtainable from the NWHS, car number 1208 is probably wrong as well, a coach falling in a block of baggage-mail cars. The roster gives cars 1208 thru 1221 as baggage-mail cars built between 2/1918 and 1/1919 by Bethlehem Ship(building). Baggage car 1321 was built by the same builder in 12/1917. Coaches 1600 thru 1634 were built by H&H in 1913 and 1635 thru 1644 in 1916. Incidentally, baggage-mail car 1210 ran until 1948 when it was wrecked at Mabrico, NC.

This accident demonstrates that even steel RPO construction did not completely protect the clerks, but very likely they would have been far worse off if they had been in a wooden car, particularly if the following cars were steel. Note that the wooden car in the same position in train No. 37 was demolished even though that train was running at about half the speed of train No 14.

Alex Schneider