I used to live in Worden, Madison County, Illinois. Several cars derailed, on a corner, and some of them ended up pretty deep in the ground. The tracks ran right through town.
Time frame would have been 1960 - 1966. I have looked and cannot find anything about it. Surely somewhere there are records and/or pictures. Does anybody know about this?

Madison County Historical Society might be a good place to check.

Welcome to the Interchange.

I checked the ICC Report of accident investigation for the time frame you listed. There wasn't anything for Worden, Il. Do you know which railroad company it was that derailed? Or if it were a passenger train or a freight train? I might help in the search.

You can go to the archives here:

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/gsearch?pid=d ... erailments

https://apps1.dot.illinois.gov/Historic ... atemap.pdf
In 1960 the Litchfield and Madison RR went through the middle of Worden (NE of Alton/East St. Louis), and the New York Central (Big Four, now part of the UP's ex-C&EI) skirted it to the south. L&M was later part of the Chicago and Northwestern RR St. Louis line, which UP has abandoned sections of south of Peoria.

A brief article in the Alton Evening Telegraph, dated November 23, 1960, and accessed through newspapers.com, states "Derailment of an Illinois Terminal Railroad freight train at Worden at 4 a.m. today left part of the village without water. The edges of several box cars dug into the earth and broke a water line. The cars were being placed back on the track and the water line repaired this morning."

The Edwardsville Intelligencer from the same date had a more detailed article, stating that it was train no 200, destined for Peoria with 150 cars, eight of which derailed. The cause was tentatively attributed to a broken rail.

The February 3, 1966, edition of the Edwardsville Intelligencer reported another derailment at Worden which knocked down a power line and left about a third of the community without electricity overnight.

I've found newspapers.com a useful resource for historical research and worth the subscription cost.

- Alan Maples

My understanding of ICC investigations of Common Carrier Railroad accidents is that the ICC only got involved when there where fatalities or significant property damage (like the runaway train into Washington DC Union Station in 1953 with no fatalities).

A "run of the mill" train derailment with no fatalities and little property damage was probably ignored by the ICC.

Any railroad investigation of the "train wreck" is probably documented in RR company files that have been lost to history at this point in time.

A State Transportation Department may have a record of this accident and any subsequent investigation ?

Cheers, Kevin.

thank you so much for all the information. I had a newspaper.com subscription but let it lapse.
That explains why I never could find any record of it - no injuries or property damage. I also suppose that to an 11 year old, the derailment looked worse than it really was.

When I could find no record, I was thinking I imagined it, but of course I knew better. Give yourself a pat on the back for making someone's day.

There is a public group on Facebook for the Illinois Terminal. They are very helpful and might have some info about the wreck.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/4761051 ... 9/members/