Waverly Train Explosion Museum Loftin was in the gas for more than an hour with a gas mask, that he found out later, was only supposed to protect him for 30 minutes. (Courtesy: Waverly Fire Department.). Shaluta said Carpenters comment clicked with him. This could lead to serious injury or death if ignition occurs. Others jumped free and fled to the nearby swamp, where they were caught by the searing fumes. At the trains helm was an inexperienced motorman, filling in for colleagues who had gone on strike that morning. It is a questionable tactic to cool tanks that are not on fire. Even after all the media coverage and investigations ended, nobody knows for sure the cause behind the events of that night. Web. It was also one of the events that a National Governors Association study says helped push the establishment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), created by President Jimmy Carter's executive order in 1979.[3]. The woman, Susan Carpenter, turned out to be an art teacher at Webster County High School. Firefighter Thomas W. Wilson, 36, Engine 29. on February 25. Two of the derailed tank cars, which contained liquefied petroleum gas, played a major role in the incident that unfolded over several days. Any train derailment, involving nearly 150 cars, would be considered catastrophic. Unfortunately, sometimes our memories are very short. You have a natural talent for photography.. The explosion compromised most of the Waverly Fire Departments on scene firefighting capability. Train wreck in 1978 launched nature photographers career In addition to information obtained from the speed recording tapes, one federal investigator said there were other indications that the train may have been traveling at a high rate of speed when it derailed. James and Madelyn Miller were among those who had to flee. The engine, baggage car, coach, and chair car fell into the creek, claiming 96 lives and leaving only two dozen alive. 1978 railway disaster in Tennessee, United States, Major Railroad Accidents Involving Hazardous Materials Release Composite Summaries 1969-1978, United States Department of Transportation, "Lessons linger from '78 explosion in Tenn. town", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waverly,_Tennessee,_tank_car_explosion&oldid=1134049844, Industrial fires and explosions in the United States, Railway accidents and incidents in Tennessee, Accidents and incidents involving Louisville and Nashville Railroad, February 1978 events in the United States, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 January 2023, at 19:45. Wow, look at that! cried a young man as he rode past the smashed rear end of the train. Don't tell me nobody was killed; nobody could survive a wreck like that.. We had snow on the ground on Thursday. The trains two locomotives stayed on the rails, but its two passenger coaches didnt. The original crack was caused by mechanical damage during a derailment, which resulted from a broken high-carbon wheel on the 17th car which had overheated. He lives in Altamont, N.Y. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Thats why the FBI got involved. Chance of rain 100%. The photographer turned out to be a very attractive young lady, and after we got back to the dining car I ended up talking with her until the bus came, and then talked with her on the bus all the way to Parkersburg.. Eight people died, and about 118 others were injured. He does this for a living. In 1978, Shaluta was operating a passenger train that derailed on what is now the North Bend Rail Trail. At approximately 10:30 p.m. a Louisville and Northern (L&N) train heading from Nashville to Memphis derailed in this small community. Federal agents confiscated all of Hudsons footage. McAdams said the train's crew members "were upset, nervous and wanted to settle down before they gave us any definitive statement.". Through the fog, he could see someone taking pictures of the torn-up tracks, Shaluta recalled. 31 cars left the tracks including a liquid tank car carrying white (yellow) phosphorus. Local firefighters had already placed heavy hose streams in place for cooling the derailed tank cars. Most of the train carried lumber flats, but nine tanker cars held toxic chemicals. The final victim, a 15-year-old girl, was not found until late Sunday afternoon when a helicopter crew spotted her lying in a field across the highway from the wreck. With my railroad salary, I could afford things. In terms of lives lost, railroad officials said the crash was the worst in Virginia since 1903, when Southern's "Old 97" derailed at Danville, killing nine persons. I sent a letter to the commissioner, and two and a half months after I left the railroad I had a job.. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Little did anyone know, those propane cars were ticking time bombs with the rising temperatures, causing the propane to expand and then explode, killing sixteen people including the fire chief and police chief. Shifting winds spread the chlorine, stalling cars and running them off the road as the gas choked off oxygen from automobile engines. 20 derailed in the center of town at approximately 6:30 a.m. Before anyone could react to the leaking LPG (a matter of seconds), a B.L.E.V.E. Four died. N.p., n.d. I ended up shooting a whole 24-exposure roll of film, which I thought was a lot. A wheel truck damaged by the breaking wheel managed to remain with the train for seven miles before it finally came loose from the car causing the derailment. The railroad invested a lot of money and training on me, he said. A second LPG tank car was also set on fire by the explosion, but did not B.L.E.V.E. Southern's Morgret said there is "no better maintained passenger train in the country" than the famed Southern Crescent. Waverly is the county seat of Humphries County and had a population of 5,000 in 1978. He had sent me from there to pick up one of our other police officers and an additional patrol car and bring it back to the site. On this date, 35 years ago, 15 cars of a 144-car freight train went off the tracks and a tanker car containing while phosphorous began burning uncontrollably, sending a At 5:10 a.m. on February 23, after a previous miscommunication regarding hazardous material being present, the Tennessee Office of Civil Defense (TOCD, a precursor to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency or TEMA) sent out a hazmat team to assess the situation. He got his chance in 1985. later) had been moved some 12 feet from its original resting point underneath several other rail cars. Wc need to evaluate the situation and make sure there is a good reason to cool the tanks. The blast was felt for hundreds of feet and seen for miles, and disabled most of the fire-fighting equipment at the site. Forty-three cars of the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay freight train jumped the tracks about 2 a.m. CST Sunday. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the incident. One derailed tank car #83013 (which was to B.L.E.V.E. It was like the last man on earth. The resulting fires and effects of the explosion killed five people instantly, and severely burned the Waverly fire chief (he would die later at the hospital). This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. August 29, 1855: Camden-Amboy Railroad Wreck, Burlington, New Jersey. The accident tore up the tracks and knocked over a signal. Mr. deRoos said that in addition to the rear wheels on the fifth car, the sixth and seventh cars of the eightcar train had completely left the tracks. February 26, 1978, 8 Associated Press. Sixteen structures in Waverly were destroyed, and another 20 seriously damaged. The Waverly explosion, along with other accidents involving railroad derailments and hazardous materials (the most infamous being the train derailment in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on November 10, 1979) resulted in a major rework of how authorities deal with such emergencies. August 2, 1853: Sunset Cow Wreck, Bulls Island, Lambertville, New Jersey. Liquid in the tank even though flammable, will absorb heat from flame impingement and protect the tank shell from thermal damage. She was very heroic and was a great help, said Mr. deRoos, who apologized for not getting her name, but called her a typical New Yorker always there in a pinch., For hours after the accident many people rode back and forth between the 59th Street and 42d Street stations to get a close look at the derailed train. But engineer Ray Shores of Panama City ran so far into the swamp that he wasn't found until eight hours after the crash. ", "Hemeroteca Digital - Diarios Histricos en Internet - Prov. Rain earlythen remaining cloudy with showers overnight. His patrol car was parked in this area right here. That was the case in here in Bay County on an eerie February morning 40 years ago. Ten of the cars each contained 34,000 Morris Bridges, 41, West VFD Perry Calvin, 37, Mertens VFD and Navarro Mills VFD (Student at Hill College Fire Academy) Jerry Dane Chapman, 26, Abbott VFD Cody Frank Dragoo, 50, West VFD (Foreman at the West Fertilizer Co.) Kenneth "Lucky", Harris, Jr. Career Captain Dallas, TX FD James Matus, 52, West Deputy Chief 2 Thomas A. Kline, 59. A sun kink, caused when the suns heat causes the rails to expand and push the crossties out of alignment, caused the 1978 wreck of Amtraks Shenandoah passenger train. This may have had a direct impact on the Weyuwega incident in terms of safety to emergency personnel and residents. Wreckage is visible in all directions, dead bodies being seen here and there in the piles of debris from the cars, driftwood and mud. It was the deadliest crash Colorado had witnessed at the time, but incredibly, reconstruction of the bridge began immediately. By this time, Louisville and Nashville wreck crews were beginning to clear debris. 8 Cornell, James. The Waverly police and fire chiefs were on the scene and the hazmat crew was moving its equipment to start the transfer when at 2:58 p.m. vapor was discovered leaking from the tank car. 'Southern Railway has a very good safety record and a good reputation for maintaining its equipment properly," Sullivan said, adding that his agency found the track to be "defect-free" while making a routine inspection of that part of the route last May 11. WebInitial visibility: currently defaults to autocollapse To set this template's initial visibility, the |state= parameter may be used: |state=collapsed: {{1978 railway At the North end of town, near an industrial area, 37 cars of a Wisconsin Central Railroad train At approximately 1:37 a.m. on January 18, 2002, eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) freight train 292-16, traveling about 41 mph, derailed 31 of its 112 cars about 1/2 mile west of the city limits of Minot, North Dakota.