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From: "J DOT Henry Priebe Jr DOT " root AT bluemoon DOT net
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 03:53:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: (erielack) Film of 1958 Erie Sterlington Accident
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On Tue, 25 May 2010, Terry Dean wrote:

> I happened to come across this never seen film of the 1958 collision of
> 2 Erie commuter trains at Sterlington from the British Pathe news archive.
> http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=66830
>
> Terry

I wrote a short article (to accompany some submitted photos) for the ELHTS
Limited about this wreck. Here is the text from that article for those who
are unfamiliar with this wreck. I have also attached a simple diagram of the
wreck.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr. Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
www.bluemoon.net Internet Access & Web Hosting
www.railfan.net Railfan Network Services

>>>>>
At 6:47 AM on the morning of August 11, 1958 there was a spectacular head-on
wreck of two Erie Railroad commuter trains at Sterlington, NY.

Extra freight 703 from the Graham Line proceeded east through Newburgh
Junction (NJ) onto the eastbound main around 6:15 am. The first eastbound
commuter train of the day, number 50 was headed up by Alco PA-1 859 and had
left Monroe at 6:25 am. Because X703 would be working on the eastbound main
the dispatcher planned to run number 50 around it on the westbound main and
then cross back to the eastbound main west of Hillburn. He issued order number
105, Form 31 to SF Tower (Suffern) for all westbound trains and Form 19 to
train number 50 at NJ Tower: .Train No 50 Eng 859 has right over opposing
trains on westward track Newburgh Jct to first crossover west of Hillburn..
Train number 50 stopped at NJ for the train order flag, accepted order 105 and
proceeded east on the westbound main. Westbound commuter train number 53 with
EMD GP7 1402 had left Hoboken at 5:00 am and was expected at Suffern at 6:40
am and Sloatsburg at 6:56 am. The towerman at SF made the fatal mistake of not
applying a blocking device to signal 36 as per the dispatcher's orders and he
also failed to display the train order signal before copying order 105. He was
then apparently distracted by a phone call, which caused him to forget order
105 altogether. Westbound train 53 subsequently arrived at SF and without
thinking, he cleared the home signal, which allowed 53 to proceed west on the
westbound main. Even though SF, NJ, the dispatcher and both trains all had
radios, neither train was able to be contacted before the collision occurred.
At 6:47 am both trains collided head on at Sterlington, each still moving at
approximately 20 MPH. The crew on westbound commuter train 53, had seen what
was going to happen and managed to jump clear before the wreck. The three
crew members of the PA were not as fortunate as they and two of their
passengers perished in the collision. 35 others were injured in the accident.

According to the police report, the collision was so severe that the
locomotives appeared to be "welded together."

A short news item was distributed across the country by the Associated Press
and appeared in many newspapers on August 12, 1958. It read as follows:

STERLINGTON, N.Y., Aug. 11 (AP) -- Two Erie Railroad passenger trains
thundered down the same track today to a head-on collision that killed five
persons and injured 35 others. A towerman was quoted as saying he forgot to
stop one of the trains.

Alco PA-1 859 was apparently repaired and returned to service as it is listed
as being retired as a trade-in to EMD in 1969. The fate of EMD GP7 1402 is not
as clear as it is listed as wrecked and retired in 1965, 7 years after that
fateful day in Sterlington.

References:
ICC "Sloatsburg" Accident Report
"erielack" Erie Lackawanna Email List
"Collision at Sterlington NY" by Mike DeMeo on trainweb.org
"Sloatsburg" in "Train Order Accidents" by J. B. Calvert on the University of
Denver web site
The Associated Press in various U.S. newspapers
<<<<<



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