American railway accidents Pt. I
This undated postcard shows a M&StL freight southbound (rail- road west) across the Iowa River after the wreck chronicled in the earlier pictures. Clearly shown is that the northern approach tres-
bridge itself is on a 3° curve to the left. All of this curvature, including the pre- 1919 right-of-way is clearly visible in a Google Earth®
image. The bridge, according to a M&StL
track chart, consists of three 60-foot deck girders on masonry piers. The northeast approach was a frame bent trestle slightly less than 100 feet in length. The entire span, including ap- proaches, did not have guard rails. Line-of-sight issues were so severe in this area that the railroad realigned the 3° curve near the top of the grade in 1919. This work only slightly miti- gated the safety issues in the area. This was a stretch of track for cautious engine crews only!
Because the ICC requirement that railroads report major accidents didn’t become effective until July 1, 1911, we are indeed fortunate to have a detailed account of this wreck. A newspaper ar- ticle provides the backdrop for the col- lection of postcard photos which illus- trate this article. The weekly Marshalltown Times Re- publican for April 28, 1911, picks up the story:2
“Rolling stock was demolished, mer-
chandise destroyed and part of a steel bridge torn down when fast freight No.
76 92,
tle has been removed and replaced with another steel deck girder span. The engineer is decelerating as he enters the yard limit for Steamboat Rock (date unknown but subsequent to April, 1911).
south [railroad direction west] bound on the Iowa Central ran off the track and went thru the bridge over the Iowa River at Steamboat Rock at 5:10 Tuesday evening [April 25, 1911]. From the standpoint of property loss the wreck is one of the worst the company has had in years, but it was most fortu- nate in that no one was injured, and it is hard to understand how the engine- men escaped. Two spans of the bridge were torn out, and twelve empty and six loaded cars were derailed some of them being demolished and their contents badly damaged. One engine kept the track, the other hangs partly off the bridge and its tank [tender] is a wreck. “Traffic will probably be delayed for 24 hours or more. According to the trainmen, the derailment of a refriger- ator car, the first car in the rear of the locomotives, was the cause of the wreck. It left the track about 200 feet north of the bridge. The engine tank ahead of it was dragged off and cars following it were likewise derailed be- fore the bridge was reached. When the derailed tank and cars struck the north end of the steel bridge over the river they displaced and then tore out the two north spans into which the de- railed cars were dumped. Others were
piled up along the track and right-of- way approaching the bridge. “The head locomotive stuck to the rails and crossed the two spans before they went down. The rear locomotive got part way across before the bridge was torn loose, then it partly toppled off the bridge. The enginemen jumped from their locomotives as soon as they saw that part of the train was derailed, and that it was probable that the train would go off the bridge. This accounts for their escaping injury or death. “There is no water under the north two spans of the bridge, the drop from the bridge to the river bed at this point being about 8 or 10 feet. Oscar O. Green engineer, and G. Baxter, fireman both of this city were on the head loco- motive, No. 100. J. H. Benson, engineer and his fireman J.C. Carberry, were on the 421, the second locomotive. “It is estimated the train was running from 25 to 30 m.p.h. when the derail- ment occurred. Charles Worley, conduc- tor, of this city was in charge of the train. The wreck presented a curious sight. A great iron girder of the bridge was run thru the locomotive tank, and an im- mense wooden beam was forced thru the firebox of locomotive No. 421. Among the merchandise in the debris was a car of
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