I heard a report about a derailment of the Christmas/Santa Claus train on the Whitewater Valley; possibly with injuries to passengers. Anyone have any details?

midlandblb@cs.com

Just posted to FLIMSIES. See link below.

At least 21 injured when Whitewater Valley Railroad tourist train derails.

Christmas train derails
kalbrandt@rypn.org

Here is the official press release with the correct and current information from the Whitewater Valley Railroad.

WHITEWATER VALLEY RAILROAD

Post Office Box 406

455 Market Street

Connersville, Indiana 47331

765-825-2054

DECEMBER 7th DERAILMENT PRESS RELEASE

December 8, 2002

10:30am

Connersville, Indiana

At approximately 7:00pm on December 7, 2002 three railroad passenger coaches belonging to the Whitewater Valley Railroad derailed south of the town of Laurel, Indiana. Train crew personnel using radios communicated the incident to the railroadÂ’s dispatcher. The Whitewater Valley Railroad dispatcher immediately notified emergency authorities in Franklin County. They activated an emergency plan that would provide advance information to the local hospital in the event that staff needed to be called in.

The scheduled train included 14 pieces of equipment, primarily passenger cars, and was traveling approximately 12mph at the time of the derailment. All cars remained upright with the derailed coaches located near the middle of the consist. Maximum speed on the line is 15mph. The maximum number of passengers on board was 419 with an additional 15 train crew and car hosts. 10 passengers were taken to Fayette Memorial Hospital in Connersville, Indiana and 9 of that group had minor injuries and were treated and released that evening. One person was kept overnight for observation and he is expected to be released this morning. Remaining passengers were taken from the accident scene to the Laurel Elementary School until they could be taken by bus to the Connersville station.

Investigators with the Federal Railroad Administration have arrived in Connersville and have visited the accident scene. Investigators determined that the cause of the derailment involved a broken rail. The rail apparently broke as the train crossed over it. Although todayÂ’s Christmas Train has been cancelled, it is anticipated that all other December trains will operate as scheduled.

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> At approximately 7:00pm on December 7, 2002
> three railroad passenger coaches belonging
> to the Whitewater Valley Railroad derailed
> south of the town of Laurel, Indiana. Train
> crew personnel using radios communicated the
> incident to the railroadÂ’s dispatcher. The
> Whitewater Valley Railroad dispatcher
> immediately notified emergency authorities
> in Franklin County. They activated an
> emergency plan that would provide advance
> information to the local hospital in the
> event that staff needed to be called in.

I think a good job was done by all in the face of a terrible situation! Link below for a picture

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/1826511/detail.
lamontdc@adelphia.net

> I think a good job was done by all in the
> face of a terrible situation! Link below for
> a picture
Is that an Erie stillwell that is leaning in that picture?

wok3002@aol.com

> Is that an Erie stillwell that is leaning in
> that picture?

Are you serious? What kind of coach? People were injured... a tourist railroad is facing a very challenging time... and you are concerned about what kind of passenger car is shown in the pictures. Please show some class and decorum, this is a public access website. Altough I have a great love for trains, they are not the most important thing in this world, people are.

Start another line inquiring about equipment involved in the incident in a couple days, or be patient and wait for the FRA report. Your personnel and immediate "need-to-know" is not relaying any material pertinent to this "line" on the discusion board. All of the other posts have shared pertinent information on a developing situation. It is my personnel opinion your post is in poor taste, as well as, ill-timed.

This unfortunate accident is barely 24 hours old, show some restraint and respect. In some situations, trainspotting should not be anyone's primary conern. It is just not helpful. If you want to be a good (& successful) rail preservationist, be a good human first.

http://www.orhf.org
gkamp@mwaarchitects.com

> Are you serious? What kind of coach? People
> were injured... a tourist railroad is facing
> a very challenging time... and you are
> concerned about what kind of passenger car
> is shown in the pictures.

G, don't you think your response was just a little hypersensitive? Kevin's comments acknowledged it was a "terrible" situation.

Nothing he said or could've said changed the event or the response to it. He wasn't on site, showing some sort of misdirected curiousity in the face of human misery. We all know people were hurt, that its a serious thing, but proper respect does not entail paralysis.

To launch a multiparagraph attack on the guy for being curious is more unjustified, IMHO. If you thought the comment was ill-advised, you could've offered that criticism in a gentler way which no doubt have been more productive.


superheater@beer.com

> Are you serious? What kind of coach? People
> were injured...

Oh big deal. Bumps and bruises. The real injury will come from lawyers and insurance companies. You make it sound as if the cars had plunged into the bayou.

If this is the worst that can happen during a tourist train derailment, then I would say that is a pretty good thing.

This is the season for broken rails everyone. Today I took a 94 car train over a section of track that a following train discovered a broken rail on. They got one truck of the first unit over it, noticed a jolt and stopped. Leaves me wondering, which of my 94 cars broke that rail, and thankfully one of our hazmat cars didn't decide to follow a new path.

I would like to know if that car was a Stillwell too. If you saw the video on that news website, you will notice that the motive power was a Lima.

jrowlands@neo.rr.com

> This is the season for broken rails!

> I would like to know if that car was a
> Stillwell too. If you saw the video on that
> news website, you will notice that the
> motive power was a Lima.

One NS engineer told me that on the Frankfort line the had well over a half dozen broken rails. We have had some strange freeze thaw conditions this week in this part of the state.

FRA made their inspections on Sunday and have been very helpful. The rail snapped as the train crossed it and that is that. Don't expect any Gettysburg style report, but we learned the value of good volunteers and emergency preparedness.

Our inspections were up to date and unfortunately their was simply nothing to see prior. I hope other groups don't have this happen and obviously the news reports made it look much worse than it was, but it is still very important to have good emergency procedures and people skilled enough to function in an emergency. Good maps of access roads, phone numbers handy, good communication systems, etc. all must be in place to be ready for the unexpected. The press release has also been a good tool once we had something to report. Be ready for the calls once our media friends hear something on the scanner! We asked each for a fax
number so that we could send a press release once we knew the details. Most respected this and were very professional.....a few were less than courteous....or honest!

Lima-Hamilton (Cincy Union Terminal) 25 was the power and the three coaches involved were Erie Stillwells. The 2600 has fairly little damage, the other two are worse. We will need a bit more time to assess the damage to these two. Contractor was in today to look it over. We hope to back in service at the end of the week. A few fellow musuem people in the area have offered help, we certainly appreciate the thought and concern.

Thanks again all for the support,

David Farlow, CMO
Whitewater Valley RR

Hudson.Industries@att.net

> G, don't you think your response was just a
> little hypersensitive? Kevin's comments
> acknowledged it was a "terrible"
> situation.

> Nothing he said or could've said changed the
> event or the response to it. He wasn't on
> site, showing some sort of misdirected
> curiousity in the face of human misery. We
> all know people were hurt, that its a
> serious thing, but proper respect does not
> entail paralysis.

> To launch a multiparagraph attack on the guy
> for being curious is more unjustified, IMHO.
> If you thought the comment was ill-advised,
> you could've offered that criticism in a
> gentler way which no doubt have been more
> productive.

I concur.

mrwowak@yahoo.com