Re: (erielack) The March 9, 1973 head-on wreck at NJ tower

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

- --- Kevin DeGroff <kdegroff_@_starpower.net> wrote:
> My records show that EL/NJT Comet I cars 1502, 1522, 1607, 1755, and
> 1758 were involved in a head-on wreck with a freight at Newburgh Jct on 
> 3-9-73.  Lead unit on the freight was U-33C 3305, which lost its cab in 
> the wreck.  All of the commuter cars were reportedly scrapped a few
years 
> later, never to be rebuilt.

> Questions:
> Given the orientation of the commuter power (train was in push mode), I
> assume the commuter was eastbound(?) and the freight must have been
> westbound(?). 
 
> Given that the commuter was deadheading, the wreck probably occurred in 
> the evening?

I would expect that also.  I'm not familiar with the 1973 schedules, but I
THINK there were only four trips each way, during peak hours.  New York
hadn't sent the Budd cars over to do mid-day shuttle service at that time.

Currently, there is a mid-day trip that short-turns at Middletown; this
had been dead-heading east until a year or two ago.  I don't know if this
trip ran in 1973.  For a time, there were deadheads between PJ and Hoboken
to move equipment to the shops; these aren't in the current employee
timetable. 

> What other freight locomotives (if any) were with the 3305?
> 
> What U-34CH was shoving the commuter?
> 
> When did 3305 come out of Hornell repaired?  On Pg. 91 of Preston Cook's
> book, there is a pic of 3305 detouring on the LV in July 1974, and the 
> 3305 has a gray roof then (a sign of repainting). So the unit was back 
> on the road by 1974.
> 
> Did 3305 retain dual control stands after repairs?
> 
> Was a specific cause determined?  Someone run a signal?
> 
> Were there any crew fatalities?

Can't help on these.

> Is the list of involved commuter cars correct?  The 1502 and 1522 are
> both cab cars.  

Probably.  NJT gave out rosters at a few of the past Try Transit
Festivals; the 2000 list shows 32 active cars in the 5100-5134 block; the
1500-series was renumbered by switching the first two digits to make room
for the Comet III's.

> Was it common for EL/NJT commuter trains to have a second cab car acting
> as a mid-train coach?  While I know some cars are designed for such 
> circumstances, in 7 years of riding MARC into Washington DC, I never
> witnessed such a practice with the MARC operation.  MARC's cab car
> operating compartment WAS the end vestibule, meaning there was no wall
or
> door seperating an aisle through the vestibule from the operator
> controls and guages.  Walking through the vestible to get to the next
car
> allowed you to touch the controls if you wanted to.  I got a sense that 
> MARC cab cars were used in a mid-train coach fashion as little as 
> possible.  How do the Comet's differ?

The Comet I's were delivered as 35 1500-series toilet-equipped cab cars,
10 toilet-equipped 1600-series snack-bar trailer cars and at least 106
1700 and 1800-series plain trailers.  Given the ratio of cabs to trailers,
it would have been rare to see two cabs in one train in 1973.

The trailers do not have end doors on the outer end of the vestibule,
beween cars.  In service, there is always another car at each end of a
trailer unless it's the car next to the locomotive.  Originally, the coach
door next to the locomotive was to be locked to prevent people from trying
to climb onto the locomotive.  This was later considered a safety hazard
in case of an accident, and now this door is NOT locked.

The cab cars have a hinged end door on the OUTSIDE end of the cab-end
vestibule since that is the leading end of the train in push mode.  If the
car is 'embedded' in the consist, the door is opened and swings 180
degrees to enclose the controls.  The door LOCKS in this position and
can't be opened except by someone with the proper key.  I would have
expected MARC's cab cars to be built the same way, but apparently I am wrong.

=====
Gary R. Kazin
DL&W Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

New Jersey Transit - THE WAY TO GO!!!

(I have no affiliation with New Jersey Transit.)

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