1931 train crash at Helenwood
On Jan. 24, 1931, a passenger train crashed on the Southern Railway (Cincinnati & Southern Railroad) at Helenwood, killing three passengers and two crew members, and injuring 10 other passengers. The cause of the accident was believed to be excessive speed. The train was called The Suwanee River Special.
Precursor to the accident
On Saturday, Jan. 24, 1931, Passenger Train No. 5 — consisting of a combination baggage and coach, one coach, one dining car, and six Pullman sleeping cars, pulled by Engine 6477 — was southbound on the Southern Railway. It had departed Chicago, Ill. and had picked up more passengers during a stop in Cincinnati, Oh. The train stopped at Somerset, Ky. and a new crew took charge before it continued south, with another stop scheduled in Oakdale, Tenn.
Train No. 5 passed the Pine Knot station, 18.5 miles north of Helenwood, at 12:32 p.m. on Jan. 24, 1931. It was four minutes behind schedule at that time. The train passed the Helenwood station at 12:40 p.m. or 12:45 p.m. Its estimated speed was 50 to 55 mph.
The crash
The derailment occurred just under one mile south of the Helenwood station — 5,097 feet from the station — in a slight reverse “S” curve near New River.
All cars of the train derailed but some remained on the railbed.
The engine and tender derailed to the right and came to rest against an embankment. The front end of the engine came to a stop 279 feet south of the initial point of derailment.
The first and second cars continued beyond the engine for a distance of 956 feet. The first car stopped upright, while the second car overturned and skidded the entire distance on its side.
The third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cars were partially overturned, while the two rear cars remained upright. The third car stopped 350 feet south of the engine and the rear car stopped at the initial point of derailment.
The engine and first seven cars were badly damaged, while the eighth and ninth cars were slightly damaged.
Eyewitness reports
The train’s conductor, identified in the Interstate Commerce Commission’s report on the accident as “Huskins,” told investigators that the train’s brakes were tested before leaving Somerset and appeared to be fine. He estimated the train’s speed at 50 to 55 mph at the time of the crash, and said it was the normal operating speed. He was riding in the first car behind the engine and first noticed trouble when he felt an application of the brakes two to three seconds before the derailment occurred. He said the derailment occurred at 12:58 p.m.
The baggageman, identified as Brown, was also riding in the first car and said he felt no application of the brakes prior to the derailment. He also estimated the train’s speed at 50 to 55 mph. He overheard the conductor say what time it was when the accident occurred, but was unable to remember whether it was 12:48 p.m. or 12:58 p.m. He left the train to flag oncoming rail traffic ahead of the accident site.
The flagman, identified as Sharp, was in the rear car. He said the train seemed to “slacken speed and then began to surge” just before the derailment. He estimated the speed at 50 to 55 mph. He left the train to return to the Helenwood station and report the accident.
The train porter, identified as Wellington, was in the first car of the train and said he heard a slight noise and looked up to see that the engine had separated from the train. He estimated the speed at 50 to 55 mph, which he said was the ordinary speed.
The section foreman, Judd, was near the Helenwood station when the train passed. He said it was traveling at an ordinary rate of speed, about 55 mph. One or two minutes later he heard a noise to the south, “which resembled escaping steam and the drivers of an engine slipping on the rails.” He saw a flagman approaching from that direction soon thereafter and hurried down the track to assist.
A railroad agent, Whisenhunt, had just returned from lunch at the Helenwood station when he heard the whistle of Train No. 5, which he said occurred at 12:40 p.m. or 12:45 p.m. He was standing on the station platform when the train passed, and said it was traveling at an ordinary speed. The engineer was sitting in the cab with his eyes open and appeared to be okay. The agent said he heard the hiss of escaping steam a short time later, and reported the accident to the dispatcher when the flagman reached the station.
The investigation
Throughout the day on Jan. 24, various railroad authorities showed up at the Helenwood station. The roadmaster, Self, arrived at 3 p.m. and examined the track. A supervisor, Barron, arrived and also examined the rail from a distance two miles north of the derailment site to the derailment site itself. A maintenance supervisor, Hayes, arrived at 6:45 p.m. and examined the rail. An assistant superintendent, Higgins, arrived at 4:45 p.m. and examined the trail.
All of the men concluded that the rails were safe for trains to operate at the maximum allowed speed. Barron believed that a radius bar broke, causing the train to not track properly, and that the engineer applied the brakes when he noticed that, causing a strain that broke the frame.
Way also concluded that a break in the right radius bar contributed to the accident. While Higgins did not form an opinion on a radius bar breaking, he concluded that the air brakes had been heavily applied, lifting the back drivers off the track.
On Jan. 29, another inspection found that line kinks had formed in 10 of the rails on the outside of the curve where the derailment occurred. It was thought that the kinks developed as a result of resumed rail traffic after the rails had been damaged by the derailment of Train No. 5. The rails were removed from the track and replaced.
On Feb. 25, 1931, ICC Director W.P. Borland released a report stating that the accident “probably was caused by excessive speed.”
He wrote: “On account of uncertainty as to the exact time of the accident, it is impossible to say definitely at what average speed the train had been operated between the last open office and the point of accident, a distance of 19.7 miles. The condition of the equipment after the accident, however, coupled with the manner in which it came to rest, the nature of the damage sustained, and the absence of flange marks at the point where the derailment is believed to have occurred, indicate quite clearly that the estimates as to speed made by the surviving members of the crew must be considered as minimum estimates. In all probability the speed was in excess of 60 miles per hour, and it would appear that this high rate of speed resulted in the overturning of the engine and that the principal damage to the trailer truck was caused by the first two cars as they passed the derailed engine, these cars also causing other damage to the left side of the engine, such as the guide, guide-yoke extension, and back end of the left cylinder.”
Borland cited statements made by railroad employees who had inspected the train before it left Somerset, Ky. — who said it was in normal operating condition — as proof that the trailer radius bar did not break and contribute to the derailment. He said that inspectors’ belief that the radius bar had broken due to a stuck wedge was disproven by “subsequent inspection (which) failed to develop anything wrong with the wedges.” And, “while it is possible a broken radius bar contributed to the accident, it is believed that high speed was the principal factor,” he wrote.
The dead
The train’s engineman was killed in the accident, as was the fireman. Both were traveling in the engine. Three passengers riding in the overturned car were also killed.
The engineer was Harry Lindle. The fireman was Charles Sexton, of Sunbright.
Earlier tragedies
Nearly six years earlier — on March 3, 1925 — two people had been killed when a northbound passenger train, Train No. 6, derailed as it was being diverted off the main line at Helenwood onto a storage track. The locomotive tipped onto its right side, causing the tender and mail car to also leave the rails. The engineman and fireman were killed in that accident, as well. It occurred 3,600 feet north of the Helenwood station, at a speed of about 10 mph.
And on Nov. 12, 1929 — just 14 months earlier — five people were killed when the Ponce De Leon passenger train derailed at Glenmary, as it traveled north from Florida to Cincinnati. That accident was also caused by excessive speed, and the train plunged over an embankment into Webb Creek. The engineman, fireman, a mail clerk, and two passengers — one of them a hobo and one a 17-year-old boy — were all killed. Another 40 passengers were hospitalized.
In 1915, one person was killed when the trestle over Buffalo Creek failed, causing an engine to plunge 50 feet into the creek.
News story
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in January 1931. The sleek and powerful locomotive, pulling a dozen passenger cars, raced in seeming desperation down the Southern tracks, the long ribbons of steel fleeting under the adhesion of its big whirling steel drivers. Wisps of steam trailed from both sides of the engine and a thin stream of torrid smoke stretched in a low straight line back over the length of the straining machine. She was the Suwanee River Special, hauling passengers of the affluent set from northern cities to the good times of sunny Florida.
A typical passenger train, she was like a small town on wheels, consisting of a baggage car, three day coaches, six sleeping Pullmans, a dining car, and a lounge car, a dozen cars in all plus the caboose.
In the day of the steam locomotive it was the luxury way to travel. One could eat, sleep, and travel in commodious ease.
In order to draw passenger trade during the days of the Depression (and the days of Prohibition), the Southern ran these luxurious passenger trains to exotic southern ports like the Florida coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
This train, like her sister train, The Royal Palm, was a marvel of speed and beauty. As were most Southern passenger trains, the Suwanee River Special was pulled by a custom engine designed primarily for pulling passenger cars.
The passenger train consisting of 12 to 14 cars of passengers was a considerably lighter load than a freight train, which might consist of 60 to 100 cars of heavy freight. Therefore, these engines could be geared to gain a high cruising speed rather than the lower geared freight engines which needed more lugging power. This gearing was done by attaching the piston rod nearer the center of the drive wheels, thereby making a shorter piston stroke. These special engines were painted green, including the wheels, with black trim.
The engine pulling the Suwanee River Special was such a machine. This engine was a Pacific 4-6-2 type, that is, it had four pilot wheels, six big drive wheels, and two trailing wheels under it. The engine alone was 92 feet in length, weighed 206 tons empty, and had a speed of 80 miles per hour plus. A skilled engineer and fireman might put her over a hundred miles per hour if they were so inclined.
On this particular day the Special had come down from Chicago, picked up more passengers in Cincinnati, and changed crews in Danville, Kentucky.
At Danville, Engineer Harry Lindle took the controls with his fireman, Charles Sexton, of Sunbright, Tennessee. Due to a delay back up the line the Special was almost two hours behind schedule when they took over.
They had been making up time all the way from Danville and with full steam and running all out the Special screamed through Oneida like a cannonball. Experienced railroaders who were there that day estimated she was doing a hundred miles per hour.
Oneida’s station master hurried to the telephone and whirled the crank furiously to inform the next station, as was his duty to do, that the train was passing Oneida. As the Helenwood agent, Crit Phillips, answered the phone he heard the shrill, high-pitched wail of the Special’s steam whistle.
“She’s already here,” he answered, and ran outside to watch in awe as the great steamliner sailed past him and diminished in the distance.
Phillips shook his head in disbelief, saying, “He’ll never make it to New River.”
Phillips was right. Only second later he heard the horrible, shattering clamor and felt the shock of a crash that seemed to shake the entire countryside.
Within moments after the crash a number of nearby residents of the Helenwood, Oneida, and New River areas were on the scene. Many of them were sickened by what they saw. Some passengers were badly smashed up and in those cars that had been sliced by the jagged rocks, human bodies were