User:Mitchazenia/1958 Sterlington railroad disaster

The Sterlington railroad disaster was a wreck on Monday, August 11, 1958 in the hamlet of Sterlington, New York, United States. At approximately 6:47 a.m. EDT, an eastbound Erie Railroad commuter train (No. 50) heading from Monroe station collided with a westbound commuter train (No. 53), that was incorrectly routed on the same tracks in the opposite direction of the eastbound. The resulting collision occurred in front of the abandoned Sterlington railroad depot, just off New York State Route 17 (NY 17), while each train was going about 20 mph.

As a result of the accident, the two locomotives leading each train were described by officials as being "welded together" and caused collisions between several coaches on the commuter train. The accident resulted in the deaths of three railroad workers (the engineer, brakeman and fireman) on train No. 50, as well as two passengers from nearby Tuxedo and Warwick who were killed in the coaches behind No. 50. As a result of the massive amount of injuries and the five dead, numerous emergency officials from nearly two dozen various communities in New York and New Jersey responded to help the injured and investigate the accident. The accident at Sterlington was the second-deadliest railroad accident in the United States in 1958, behind the Newark Bay rail accident in New Jersey just 34 days later, when 48 people were killed.

A follow-up investigation discovered that the switch man at "SF" Tower in nearby Suffern, Frederick Roth, forgot to stop the westbound train as he was distracted by a phone call in the tower and never stopped the train. Officials of the Erie Railroad absolved the towerman, who had worked at the tower for fifteen months, of any wrongdoing in the incident. Roth was dismissed by the railroad in late September.

Background
The railroad accident occurred on a stretch of the Erie Railroad between "SF" interlocking Junction in Suffern, New York and NJ Interlocking Junction in Harriman on the New York Division of the Erie main line between Rutherford, New Jersey and Sparrowbush, New York, a double-track railroad west of Suffern and four-track east. "NJ" marked the junction between the main line and the Graham Line, a one-track railroad. Just west of the accident site in Ramapo was a 1.3 mi long siding and a crossover track was located in Hillburn, 1600 ft west of the depot in that community. In the stretch between the Hillburn station and the east switch of the crossover track was a curve in which the accident occurred. Interlocking signal 36, which controlled movements up to signal 39 at "NJ", was located at "SF" Tower, which had 36 levers, 28 of which were functional at the time of the accident.

Accident
Train No. 50, an eastbound passenger train was led by an American Locomotive Company PA-1 diesel-electric unit, No. 859, along with four passenger coaches constructed of steel. Beginning its day at 5:25 a.m. at Monroe in Orange County, train 50 passed "NJ" at 5:32, a minute behind schedule. The train came onto the westward track of the main line at 15-20 mph. Meanwhile, train No. 53, a westbound passenger train headed for Port Jervis, New York with engine No. 1402, a road-switcher, an express car, mail car, mail-bagger car and two passenger coaches departed Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey at 4:00 am. At 5:40 a.m., the train departed Suffern station and crossed "SF", whose signal 31-1 was marked as clear, while 33-1 was marked as "approach", moving at 20 mph.

At 5:15 am, the train dispatcher at Hoboken was notified by the "NJ" operator that an eastbound freight train, Extra 703 East, would be coming off the Graham Line with three diesel-electric units and 115 freight cars along with a caboose. In order to keep the freight train moving and not delay train 50, they moved the freight onto the eastbound track, switching to westbound track at Hillburn by the crew. The dispatcher informed "NJ" at 5:16 by telephone to hold westbound trains and put a stop signal up at signal 39. The freight was placed on the eastbound main track when it passed NJ at 5:28 am, going about 25 mph.

Train 50 saw the stop signal at NJ, and a yellow flag, which noted that the operator had a Form 19 train order to let the freight through. The engineer of train 50 sounded the horn from the cab of 859, and a train order No. 103 was given by "NJ". Order 103 meant that train 50 could use the westbound main track between "NJ" and the first crossover track west of Hillburn and had priority over other trains. Train 50 crossed the interlocking station at 5:32 am, making stops at Southfields, Tuxedo and Sloatsburg.

As the train approached the scene of the accident, the engineer and a fireman and a road foreman were sitting the cab of 859 while the conductor, front brakeman and a flagman were located in the first coach of the train. The road foreman noted that after they departed Sloatsburg, they had seen train 53 coming up the line, but could not distinguish which track it was on because of the curve and vegetation alongside the tracks. When the road foreman and fireman saw train 53 on the westbound track, they notified the brakeman, who reduced the speed from 50 mph to 15-20 mph. Meanwhile, the engineer and the fireman entered the engine compartment of 859.

On train 53, the crew was divided between cars. The engineer and his colleagues were in control of 1402, which was now running on the westbound main line track north of Hillburn. The headlights were also dimmed on 1402, and when they passed signal 36, the movement onto the westbound track was given the clear sign, with no red flag to display a hold order for them. Train 53 continued on the westbound track, which passed signal 31-1 with a clear sign. After passing signal 33-1, they saw an approach sign, which reduced the speed of the westbound train. The brakes were functional and when the engineer of 1402 saw the oncoming train, an emergency use of the brakes were used.

The two trains collided in front of the freight depot of the Erie Railroad in the hamlet of Sterlington. The two engines, 859 and 1402, telescoped while several of the coaches on 50 crashed into each other, pulling their wheels off the track. However, neither the locomotives or the cars behind them derailed.

Response
The response to the accident was immediate and massive. Ambulance companies from Sloatsburg, Nyack, Ramapo, Haverstraw, Pearl River, New City and Spring Valley in Rockland County were the first to arrive on the scene of the wreck. Ambulances from numerous Bergen County, New Jersey and Orange County communities joined in on the process, along with the city of Passaic, New Jersey. Both crews from New Jersey and New York sent fire trucks to the scene. The police response included every available New York State Police trooper, along with many communities. The police were led by Ramapo Chief of Police William Wood, who put every man he had on the incident. People from the Rockland County District Attorney's Office, Sherif'sOffice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York State Division of Safety.

When crews arrived at the season, they reported that people on the train were staggering and in shock. A Hillburn fireman, Robert Lillibridge noted that "Lots of them looked dazed. A number were stretcher cases." Injured passengers and crew were put on ambulances to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, along with a hospital in Tuxedo. Robert Higgins, working in the mail car of train 53, noted that nothing seemed amiss until he heard the emergency brake go off, then a hissing, soon ending up on the floor when the collision occurred. Higgins told the press that some people, including himself, were able to walk off the train under their own power, while some had to be carried out of the cars.

A passenger in the first car of train 50 noted that he had gotten on the train at Tuxedo and at in the back, with most of the car. When the collision occurred, passengers were thrown forward through the car. The passenger noted that he had suffered abrasions in his left foot and his right eye. At the front of the car on train 50, two passengers, Robert Youchman of Warwick, New York and Pauline Cronon of Tuxedo were killed instantly when their bodies were crushed by the colliding cars. The body of Youchman, an Erie Railroad employee, was wedged in between the train and 859, and along with Cronon, their bodies were cut out of the wreckage. Along with Cronon and Youchman, three members of the crew of train 50 were killed: Sam Nardo, the engineer of Glen Rock, New Jersey; Martin Walsh, the fireman of Jersey City, New Jersey and Charles Mitchell, the brakeman of Union City, New Jersey. On train 53, engineer Clifford Cowart and fireman C. E. Vanderwork of Matamoras, Pennsylvania were both injured.