Looking for nominations for the "worst" (as in most spectacular, important, or other quantitative measure) steam or diesel excursion fiasco remembered.......

Some nominees:
Worst delay/detour: An Amtrak Superliner junket in Oregon in the 1980s forced into a spectacularly long detour by a derailment, arriving back almost exactly 24 hours after it left.....

Biggest Impact On Excursions: Draw between the Norfolk Southern Great Dismal Swamp derailment (which almost killed NS steam) and the coach-destroying collision of empty stock in Lynchburg (which DID)...........

Most Spectacular Delaying Incident: The May 15, 1977 Pittsburgh-Altoona RT excursion doubleheaded Reading 2102 and GTW 4070, the latter of which disassembled its right valve gear a mile short of Horseshoe Curve on the return, spurring an emergency stop that broke the train into three pieces. Part of the reason unassisted steam will likely never see the Curve again (the doubleheader of 1977 had two CR SD40s cut in between the steamers and train).
British contender: The valve gear of BR Pacific 60532 "Blue Peter" disassembling itself in an uncontrolled 120 mph slip on crossovers last year.....

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

Two come to mind.
(1) around 1970 the all day and all night 4070 trip from Chicago to South Bend I think it was.
Ran low on water and had to run light to Valporaiso, IND.(we were waiting to see it west of there). Got back to Chicago around 6 am I heard.

(2) Was on a 614 Chessie special that ran from Cincinnati to Lima and return. On the return trip north of Hamilton, OH, somebody left a switch open and our entire train headed into Armco Steal! I think Steve Wickersham was running the loco, and he did a good job getting the train stopped. We ran over a derail apparently, and 614 broke a front sander. Nobody was hurt and we backed out, and headed south to Cincy. However the next day, climbing Banklick Hill on the line to Louisville, she stalled, and required a diesel assist. I chased that one, and got some hard working before the stall. Another sander would have helped!!!
Greg Scholl

Videos
sales@gregschollvideo.com

Can we nominate the infamous 1988 NRHS convention, "Garden State in 88"? Most notable was the Bound Brook, NJ to Harrisburg, PA trip behind NKP 765. We never made it beyond Reading, PA (the wags called it the "Readingburg" trip). There was a "guaranteed" connection to the Broadway Limited at Harrisburg but the trip organizers basically told us to pound salt. Fortunately one of the Tri-State's wealthier members stepped up and paid for taxi cabs to get about 20 of us to Harrisburg. I guess you could say at least I got a cab ride!

BHrail1@americannet.com

In 1951, I think it was, there was a fantrip on Speedrail. Speedrail operated some lightweight (and heavyweight) interurban cars on the suburban lines out of Milwaukee that had formerly belonged to The Milwaukee Electric. I think the fantrip was run by the NRHS, but don't quote me on that.

Jay Maeder, who was president of Speedrail, took the controls of the cars being used on the fantrip - a two-car articulated set of low-floor lightweight suburban cars. I think he blew a signal or something; I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, but they hit a high-floor heavyweight 1100-series interurban head on at speed. The low-floor cars were telescoped by the heavyweight car. Several of the railfans on the fantrip train were killed (Maeder survived), and the spectacular accident that was the fault of the line's president himself spelled the doom of Speedrail.

Frank Hicks

Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars
fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

> In 1951, I think it was, there was a fantrip
> on Speedrail. Speedrail operated some
> lightweight (and heavyweight) interurban
> cars on the suburban lines out of Milwaukee
> that had formerly belonged to The Milwaukee
> Electric. I think the fantrip was run by the
> NRHS, but don't quote me on that.

> Jay Maeder, who was president of Speedrail,
> took the controls of the cars being used on
> the fantrip - a two-car articulated set of
> low-floor lightweight suburban cars. I think
> he blew a signal or something; I'm not sure
> exactly what went wrong, but they hit a
> high-floor heavyweight 1100-series
> interurban head on at speed. The low-floor
> cars were telescoped by the heavyweight car.
> Several of the railfans on the fantrip train
> were killed (Maeder survived), and the
> spectacular accident that was the fault of
> the line's president himself spelled the
> doom of Speedrail.

> Frank Hicks

I was on both of the "ill fated" 4070 trips out of Dearborn Street Station to South Bend and return. The 11/03/68 ran so late that I bailed at South Bend and rode the GTW "Mohawk" back to Chicago. The train was standing at Valpo when we went through on the GTW. I swore that I would not ride the trip in the March 23, 1969 trip but, lo and behold, I caught the eastbound CB&Q "Blackhawk" at Aurora, traipsed over to Dearborn Street and rode the trip. After all, it couldn't be any worse that the previous Fall's trip, could it? WRONG! This became the trip that has been forever known as the "24 hour fantrip". Once again, after things went south, I bailed at South Bend and rode the GTW back to Chicago. Friends of mine who stayed with the trip got home just in time on Monday morning to take a shower and head for high school. Some wag suggested that Dick Jensen had to burn his coveralls because they were so low on coal! Wish I could do it again tomorrow. I'm an adult now so I wouldn't get chewed-out by my dad for getting home "So damned late on a school night". I'd take the chewing if my dad and the 4070 were still alive.

Don C.



milw261@sbcglobal.net

Several trips come to mind. In the early 80's I was on a "765" fantrip from Fort Wayne to lafayette Indiana. There was an NBC television crew aboard, then the TV crew transferred to a helicopter. Shortly thereafter, the chopper radioed the engine that the front truck was off the track. Somebody had spiked a switch, and the pilot truck went off the rail, only to be knocked back on the rail at the next switch. And some damage to the rail was done. The engine had to be reapiared before we could get started back to Fort Wayne.

As a member of the Frisco 1522 crew, I can recount several disasters. The bearing blowout for the first BNSF employees appreciation special. Two years later, going off rail on a wye after the overhaul we had just completed. Hundreds of thousands of dollars for 23 miles of trouble free running. Then there was the fan trip to Hanibal MO, that could not be completed because of a landslide that covered the tracks behind us. The train following us, hit the dirt, and derailed. We had to bus the passengers back to ST. Louis, and cancel the next day's excursion. I loved working with the Frisco 1522, but, it could drive us nuts. And usually did.

jim1522@aol.com

If I remember right the loco was ex-GTW #5629, a 4-6-2, not #4070, a 2-8-2. Dick Jensen's trips suffered from "the curse of Valpo Hill," or some similar malady as Valpariso, Indiana was always where they fell apart, after the first ones that went better.

rdgoldfede@aol.com

These certainly aren't the worst ever, but they stand out in my own personal experience.

Milwaukee Road 261's June 27, 1998 trip from Chicago to Galesburg comes to mind. With the train due to be going 60 mph or so, I decided to get ahead and set up at a good rural spot near Kewanee before the train even got out of the suburbs. I wound up sitting there for about five hours after a bearing ran hot and the train ran at reduced speed. 261 got into Galesburg just before sunset (at about the time it was scheduled to return) and stayed there overnight while an SD-9 substituted. The train got into Chicago around 1:00 in the morning if I recall correctly. The next day I rode the trip, and was shocked that the gallant crew of the 261 had the engine back in shape and we made a speedy return to the Windy City.

I was also on 4501's last NS excursion in May 1994 (of course we didn't know that at the time). We stopped several times (often seemingly in the middle of nowhere) before the engine was finally removed. I recall one person jokingly commenting that the train was stopping so everyone could admire the trees.

higginson_john@hotmail.com

> Looking for nominations for the
> "worst" (as in most spectacular,
> important, or other quantitative measure)
> steam or diesel excursion fiasco
> remembered.......

> Some nominees:
> Worst delay/detour: An Amtrak Superliner
> junket in Oregon in the 1980s forced into a
> spectacularly long detour by a derailment,
> arriving back almost exactly 24 hours after
> it left.....

> Biggest Impact On Excursions: Draw between
> the Norfolk Southern Great Dismal Swamp
> derailment (which almost killed NS steam)
> and the coach-destroying collision of empty
> stock in Lynchburg (which DID)...........

> Most Spectacular Delaying Incident: The May
> 15, 1977 Pittsburgh-Altoona RT excursion
> doubleheaded Reading 2102 and GTW 4070, the
> latter of which disassembled its right valve
> gear a mile short of Horseshoe Curve on the
> return, spurring an emergency stop that
> broke the train into three pieces. Part of
> the reason unassisted steam will likely
> never see the Curve again (the doubleheader
> of 1977 had two CR SD40s cut in between the
> steamers and train).
> British contender: The valve gear of BR
> Pacific 60532 "Blue Peter"
> disassembling itself in an uncontrolled 120
> mph slip on crossovers last year.....

No one hurt but there were about 600 very uncomfortable fans on the NRHS trip from St to Hannibal behind 4960 using commuter coaches with
only one or two restrooms in the whole train.

rrfanjim@mvn.net

> Looking for nominations for the
> "worst" (as in most spectacular,
> important, or other quantitative measure)
> steam or diesel excursion fiasco
> remembered.......

My example does not rank as high (or low) as others cited. However...
The Cotton Belt 819 "Hell on Wheels" trip from East St. Louis to Pine Bluff at the end of the 1990 NRHS Convention was memorable to those who rode it. Air conditioning failed in most cars. Mosquitos attacked those in the vestibules during stops. The train was late (I forget how long) because the steam locomotive blew apart its whistle somewhere in Arkansas. Another locomotive (diesel) had to be called to supply the mandated warning device (horn) on the point. I recall finally getting into a motel bed in the wee hours of the morning feeling well baked.

A Fort Worth-Dallas UP 3985 excursion in 1992 had the misfortune of hitting a trespasser on the tracks, killing him. That delayed the train and dimmed the day.

The biggest "almost disaster" I ever saw was a film of a Burlington steam excursion somewhere in Illinois. There was a runby with fans all over on both sides of the track. It appeared that some time during the runby a Zephyr passenger train flashed by on an adjacent track at speed. I wasn't actually present. I've often wondered after seeing the event on film whether those on the ground were warned of the coming of the Zephyr. The steam train could have easily obscured the passing Zephyr and folks been on the adjacent track. It looked like a disaster waiting to happen. Apparently it did not happen.

Here is the real story as I was the excursion director for MSRA. An unqualified union Fireman of bumped our regular GTW fireman from the job on the March 1969 GTW4070 excursion. Since we had been notified by GTW management,that due to another railfan groups failure to pay their debts and their unprofessional business attitude all steam operatons were being suspended, we decided to not make any additional waves and accept the situation. While at South Bend this fireman failed to clean and repair the fire for the return trip. He had filled the fire box with coal level to the bottom of the fire box door and allowed the fire to form a full firebox clinker. With no draft and no place to clean the fire box and enpty the ashpan between Olivers and Valpo we limped along at 25 MPH to Valpo. At Valpo we had to clean the fire, load coal and take on water, which we did with 40 Minutes left of crew time under the old 16 hour law to make a Crew Change at
Blue Island yard. The engineer called in the flag and got a High Ball from the rear of the train. Unfortunaly it wasn't a crewman but a fan with a flashlight. We left town without a crew as the crew had left the train to get beans but hadn't let the engineer know. We got flagged at the Pennsy crossing tower at the bottom of the hill west of Valpo and informed of our situation. We then had to assist and perform crew duty to hand flag the rear as we backed up the hill to Valpo to pick up the crew. It took 3 crews and 2 locomptive change to get from Valpo to Dearborn station at 5 am.

rich-young@afbisinc.com

From my limited personal experience only, but I must nominate the Steamtown trip to Analomink in 1997(?).

It was actually two round trips out of Scranton with the intention of bringing people into Steamtown as a destination and then brining them back out to Analomink. It was the brainchild of a few people who had no idea what it took to run a railroad (and eventually pulled from the fire by the crew that did).

Only one Steam engine was ready (CN 3254) instead of the planned two. The sanders failed and of course it rained. On the (first) trip back from Analomink the train stalled, had to be rescued by the DL and their Alco's and then toilets filled and the new Asst. Superintendent was sent to buy toilet paper from a nearby Quickie Mart.

The passengers were supposed to have several hours to explore Steamtown but with all the delays the first trip got into Steamtown at the time that the return round trip was supposed to depart. There were no lights on the cars then, so the only illumination came from several dozen battery lanterns hung from the luggage racks. It wasn't 24 hours late, but I think the return train came back some 20 hours after its departure for the first run the previous day.

It was amazing, people actually handled it in stride and there werenÂ’t many refunds. The passengers had a blast watching the mad dash to coal, water and service the engine. One of the firemen jokingly started to file down the nut on the end of the throttle brace to give the engineer more room to pull the throttle on the trip out of town. I remember watching the 3254 running for all she was worth, head out of town that night in the driving rain with a smile on my face.

Funny, they never tried a double-trip like that again.

Dave Crosby


bing@epix.net

I rode quite a few of the annual 2-day NS trips from Alexandria, Virginia to Roanoke, which were sponsored by the groups around the DC area.

This trip was either '84 or '86. (Not '85, as that trip was with 4501 down the Shenandoah Valley Line -one of my all-time fav's!) anyway:

611 via RF&P, Seaboard to Petersburg, N&W AND VIRGINIAN! to Roanoke.

We go charging down the RF&P . . .this was pre-dismal swamp speed restrictions.

We were coming into a station crowded with smiling excited people, tickets in hand (I can't remember what station - somewhere around Richmond).

The train is not slowing down and as we pass the crowds you could see the expressions on their faces, I'll never forget this, changing from "wow, here she comes-this is great" - to - " hey! they're not stopping!"

We sailed right on by all those dropping jaws, and about a mile down the track you here the brakes apply and we stop. Somehow the 611 crew didn't know this was a Passenger stop!

Oh s#!+.
O.K. we back up to the station, load-em up, and blast out of town, -again.

The remainder of the trip was great-
Frank Collins used to really let her out. I was riding at a dutch-door. The ground beside the track suddenly falls away as we sail out over all those Virginian high bridges with no walkway beside the track -just air . . .this is better than HersheyPark!

Lastly, hundreds of sweaty dirty coal-smoke blackened slobs standing in line to register in the lobby of the posh Hotel Roanoke. What fun.

Sweet dreams.

A mainline steam excursion in Britain this year had to be aborted at its halfway turning point and rescued by diesels.

The reason? The contractor hired to fill the tender of the steamer by road tanker had decided to be "helpful" and supplied a tankerful of almost-boiling-hot water!!!! Needless to say, the INJECTORS of the steamer did not take kindly to hot water, and the fire ended up dumped......

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

> Looking for nominations for the
> "worst" (as in most spectacular,
> important, or other quantitative measure)
> steam or diesel excursion fiasco
> remembered.......

I was onboard the first leg of the UP special to the NRHS convention in Chicago in 1993(?). That year the midwest received record amounts of rain and since most railroads follow rivers there were many sections of rail underwater.

The Camerail Club of Omaha sponsored the first leg of the trip which was scheduled to run down the Fall City Sub-division of the UP from Omaha to Kansas City, generally following the Missouri River. Several days before the trip it was decided that the 3985 would travel to Marysville KS and a diesel would take the train from Omaha to Marysville. What wasn't decided until the last minute. UP had two ways to get to Marysville from Omaha, the Beatrice sub from Valley NE through Lincoln and Beatrice and the Marysville sub from Gibbon angling through Hastings Ne. About a day before the trip was scheduled to leave it was decided to go down the Marysville Sub.

Gibbon NE is about 200 miles west of Omaha. With an 8 O'clock departure from Omaha is was lunch time when the train made the turn at Gibbon to head southeast. We arrived in Marysville in time for dinner and still had three or so hours of running to Kansas City.

The trip was great until we got to KC. Most of the people on the train were in good spirits as the train went through downtown Hastings NE on track that has since been removed.

When we got to Kansas City we not on the yard master's list of priorities. We sat for another two or three hours with in sight of our busses unable to leave the train in the middle of the yard. When we finally left the train after midnight many people were upset and I recall a fight almost starting. I don't know how I survived but I did. I don't recall seeing the 3985 once during the trip with the exception of the occasional puff of steam and smoke over the top of the cars.

Aaron

shay2305@harborside.com