The Way it Was

100 years ago

An air brake fixed in time

SEDALIA, Mo. -- The watchfulness of engineer John Aicorn undoubtedly saved the eastbound Missouri Pacific passenger train No. 6 from a disastrous wreck yesterday before noon. One mile east of Dresden the engineer discovered that the emergency brake was not working properly, and he stopped the train to repair it. While running the train at a high speed to make up 15 minutes of time lost in putting the emergency brake in working condition, a flange on one of the wheels of the tender was snapped off while going around a curve four miles west of Sedalia and the lender jumped the track. The train tore up 500 feet of ties before the engineer brought the train to a stand still on a high embankment leading to the Muddy creek bridge. None of the coaches were derailed. The postal clerks in the mail cars were roughly tossed over the working benches.

50 years ago

New Mexico train crash kills 18

SPRINGER, N.M. -- An open switch sent the Sante Fe Chief crashing head-on into a siderailed mail train early today in northern New Mexico, killing at least 18 railway workers.

Sante Fe officials earlier said 20 parished but revised the known dead figured doward when two were found safe.

A spokesman said the death toll might go higher when working crews pry into the twisted and torn cars of the Chief.

As far as had been determined, no passengers died in the early morning tragedy. A spokesman said an open switch on the track could be the only cause.

The westbound chief shot into the bypass where the fast Santa Fe mail train No. 8 was waiting for the main line to continue north.

The known dead were four crew members and 14 waiters and lounge car attendants asleep in a dormitory car on the Chief. Two of the 16 in he car escaped death.