Many years (35 or so) I was loaned to the FRA's Northeast Corridor Improvement Project and while in Washington I took advantage of the opportunity to copy all of the typewritten ICC accident reports involving the Frisco. The earliest report is of an accident at Chelsea, OK on Oct. 29, 1913 and the last is of an accident at Lamar, MO on Oct. 11, 1962. To the best of my knowledge I copied all that were issued during this period, but of course the ICC only investigated what were considered major accidents, usually involving injuries and fatalities. The reports are interesting in part because of the light they shine on operating practices of the time. They also always contain information on the train consists, including specific locomotives and in the case of passenger trains the consist by car type but not by number/name. An example is train 806 that was involved in a derailment at Holland, MO on July 23,1950. It consisted of "engine 1067, a 4-6-4 type, two baggage cars, one mail car, two coaches, one buffet-lounge car and one sleeping car, in the order named.". I mention this only to let everyone know that I have these and I will be happy to look up information or to scan and post individual reports. It is possible these have already been posted somewhere in the Forum, but if so I didn't find them. Gordon
There is also a web site for those who may be interested in accidents that have taken place elsewhere. Here is the link. GS http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/
Gordon - Do you have a write-up on the wreck at Mansfield, MO on May 9, 1961? As far as I know, there were no fatalities (don't know about injuries either), but it wrecked F3 5010 and GP7 555 beyond all hope. They were scrapped. Don't know the train number, but it involved 6 units and 27 cars; accident happened at 2am. We had a lengthy discussion of this accident on frisco.org a few years ago. Ken
Thanks for the information -- that is a resource that didn't exist in 1980 when I made my copies! I checked a sample and the pdf scans are of exactly what I had copied, so people can save both themselves and me some effort by going directly to the dotlibrary website. They make interesting reading, and the ones involving passenger trains provide some good consist information. I was interested that there were two accidents involving train 106, the KCFS, one at Fulton KS 4-24-47 and one at Mansfield, MO on 5-30-47, both trains being hauled by 4403. Was this a regular assignment for oil-burning 4400's around this time? I always associated the KCFS with the very long-distance assignment of 1500's. Gordon
Ken The only Frisco accident investigated by the ICC in 1961 was one at Bay, Ar. on 9-24-61 involving train 138 with a wrung journal derailing into train 107. This is Report No. 3927 and interestingly it is not included in the dotlibrary website (nor is No. 3968 from 11-11-62, where train 139 ran into the side of MoPac train 201 at the crossing at Lamar, MO. Gordon
Thanks Gordon. I suspected there was no ICC involvement since we couldn't find anything when we had the active topic on this accident. I don't think there were any fatalities or serious injuries, but from the looks of both 5010 and 555 in the pics, I wouldn't have wanted to be riding in either of them when all this occurred! Ken
Okay, a huge cross-post and a smidgeon on topic. On ebay there is a series (4) of accident photos in Ada Ok for sale - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frisco-Line...393?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5656b24df1 Good shots of caboose 936 and a half shot of an old gondola. Not sure how long it will be up and available. And no, I don't think $50 is even close to a decent price for the series. Just an FYI while it lasts.
My second cousin twice removed was killed in a Frisco wreck on June 7, 1960 (see attached). Do you have a report on that? Charlie View attachment brixey_everett_death_cert.pdf
The 1974 head-on collision at Mustang Oklahoma between Trains 3210 and 3211 was the last SL-SF accident investigated by the ICC (report no. NTSB-RAR-75-6). Pat Moreland Union Mo.
I searched Ancestry and have not found anything but if the name is Brixey and in Missouri, probably a relative for sure. Charlie
Gordon--Do you have any information on a Frisco passenger train wreck in or around Niangua, MO in February 1949? I had some photos of the wreck taken by Arthur Johnson (Which I seemed to have misplaced). Arthur had written the date and some information of the back of some of the pictures. There seems to be no information about the accident on the DOT/ICC website. It was a pretty serious wreck, probably with fatalities. A 4400 steam engine had a boiler explosion and the pictures show the engine on its side and several derailed cars zig-zagged in a cut. The train was probably the Will Rogers. Thanks, Tom
Tom, You might try the Garst Library in Marshfield. They have a great Newspaper collection on microfilm, and have a bunch of history there. Dan
Are these the same photos that are currently for sale on ebay? It shows an engine #4409 or #409. I'm researching to see where exactly this occurred for a friend.
I think the engine was 4409 (At least it was a 4400 class 4-8-2). One of the pictures showed it on its side and the bottom of the firebox was peeled open. In addition to my (misplaced) photos, the Springfield Newspapers published at least one aerial photo of that wreck. One picture was republished a couple of years ago in a column by longtime Springfield newspaper reporter and columnist (and railfan and air buff) Hank Billings who was the pilot when the aerial wreck photo(s) were taken. I'm not aware of any eBay photos of the wreck?? Tom G. Edit: I just checked, those eBay pictures and they are indeed the same wreck, although it was nowhere near Newburg!
