Introduction to the Wreck
This wreck involved trains of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific RR and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy RR. It happened on the CB&Q at their Montgomery Tower in Montgomery, IL. Montgomery Tower was the first interlocking plant west of
Aurora, IL on the CB&Q double-track mainline to Galesburg, IL. The CB&Q's single-track Streater Branch headed off to the
southwest and crossed the CRI&P at Ottawa, IL about 40 miles down the
branch. The pictures in this blog were
taken the morning after the wreck, September 28, 1964. The Rock Island was repairing its Des Plaines River Bridge in Joliet on its mainline
and was detouring trains to Chicago up the CB&Q branch and
trains to the west down it.
An interlocking plant is a location where trains may switch tracks, enter a train yard, or diverge to a different line as at Montgomery. Montgomery was operated by a CB&Q employees called a levermen. An interlocking plant is a large mechanical device that will not allow the tracks to be routed so a collision between trains occurs. But it did at Montgomery. Before the investigation, everybody who understood the interlocking concept said the wreck was impossible.
As the diagram shows three trains, all passenger, were at Montgomery at
the time of the wreck. An eastbound Rock
Island waiting at a home signal (a signal on the signal bridge to allow a train to enter the interlocking plant) to come off the branch (upper right on the
diagram). It was CRI&P Extra 656 the combined Golden State and the Rocky Mountain Rocket. The second was a Rock Island westbound on Track 1, the normally westbound track (both tracks were signaled in both directions), waiting at a home signal to go down the branch (lower left on the diagram). The third was CB&Q #3, the combined Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr and American Royal Zephyr, westbound at 59 mph on the normally eastbound track. Due to an error in upgrading the plant to electric-powered turnouts compromised the integrity of the plant and turnout #14 was improperly set for the branch and the Zephyr veered off into the waiting Rock Island train. Indications were that the operator had no indication of this error. Track turnout #14 was set for the
branch and the Zephyr veered off into the waiting Rock Island train. The wreck took place at 10:49 p.m. on the 27th.
The known diesel numbers are shown on the chalk diagram drawing I drew right
after the wreck. Some computer additions
have been made to the diagram. On
the diagram the interlocking plant is between signal bridges drawn like an
uppercase letter I across the tracks.
The home signals are on those bridges. The importance of the track that curves
behind the tower labeled “to SHEEPYARDS” will become apparent.
Three CB&Q employees (two in the lead CB&Q engine) and one in the RI lead engine were killed. 200 hundred passengers and other employees claimed injuries but amazingly only five remained in a hospital more than one day. ) I was the night operator leverman at the tower two weeks previously. The operator that night collapsed of a nervous breakdown soon after the wreck. Some of the details in this album are from the October 1965 TRAINS Magazine article titled The Accident That Couldn't Happen by Mike Woodruff. The article goes into some detail on how interlocking plants work and what went wrong that horrid night.
The extremely interesting Interstate Commerce Report on the accident is here: https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/usa/icc/Ex%20parte%20244.%20CB%26Q.%20Montgomery%2C%20IL.%201964-09-27.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0HAVsmZx_dDzHUSNEEfa5hLTxLePRDJ5U_JfQf5fZc5Zxyfatc3GaVp2U
This diagram shows the situation as I found it on the
morning of the 28th. The second
CRI&P train had been removed (towed back to at least Aurora) and the first
CB&Q diesel though shown was mostly gone. Two steam wrecking cranes with
their trains are present. The 27
pictures in this blog are numbered and the number and direction of each
picture is shown on this diagram. The
Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr had three units, four stored mail cars (J), two baggage cars
(B), three coaches (C) two Pullmans (S), and a heavyweight diner
(D). The headend cars (mail and baggage) accordioned, no
doubt absorbing much of the impact and protecting the passenger cars
somewhat. The lead CB&Q diesel jackknifed
and the first Rock Island diesel took to the air.
Pictures of the Wreck
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| Picture 01: The steam crane to the east of the wreck rerailing the last Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr car, a coach. This first one is easy. |
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| Picture 02: CB&Q Heavyweight Diner and Pullman "Silver Craig" originally purchased for the California Zephyr as it says on the Letter Board. |
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| Picture 03: Mustard and Ketchup On Your Hot Dog? The car to the left
is Denver Rio Grange & Western Diner "Silver Gorge" the other is CB&Q Pullman
"Silver Crag". Both are California Zephyr cars. |
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| Picture 04: Zepher Cars |
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Picture 05: The accordianed Zephyr headend cars.
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| Picture 06: Seven of the nine diesel units involved. |
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| Picture 07: This unit was repaired and became Burlington Northern 9987 and pulled/pushed commuter trains in and out of Chicago. |
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| Picture 08: E7A 9922B was subsequently scrapped. She was 19 and obviously not worth
the repair expense. E9A 9987A at the right however was returned to
service. |
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| Picture 09 |
|
|
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| Picture 10: I can find no information if Rock Island 651 was rebuilt. |
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| Picture 11: This diesel was later used in suburban service. |
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| Picture 12: Too closely spaced. |
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| Picture 13 : Rail laying over. |
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| Picture 14: This looks like the cab to the first Rock Island unit. |
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| Picture 15: The first train through using the "Sheep Yards" track down and through the yard and back up to the Aurora Depot. |
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| Picture 16 |
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| Picture 17: First train through using the sheep yard lead track. Pieces on the ground are parts of the lead Zephyr diesel unit. |
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| Picture 18: One of the first trains through using the Sheep Yard lead track. Parts on the ground are from the lead Zephyr diesel. |
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| Picture 19: Cab of Zephyr lead diesel. |
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| Picture 20: Zephyr headend cars. |
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| Picture 21: First train through on Sheep Yard lead track and Zephyr baggage car. |
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| Picture 22: Last CB&Q baggage car and first two coaches. |
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| Picture 23: Second CB&Q coach and two Pullmans. |
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| Picture 24: Looking west from Montgomery Tower (screen on window). One crane and its cars are
to the left. Sheep Yard lead track is center with rods from tower to
its left. | | |
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| Picture 25: Looking west from tower (screen on window). One crane and its cars are
to the left. One of the first trains is on the Sheep Yard lead track. |
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| Picture 26: First train through on Sheep Yard lead track behind the tower. |
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| Picture 27: First train through on Sheep Yard lead track behind the tower. |
In Closing ...
Unlucky 656. This was the third wreck for Rock Island diesel unit 656. It was rebuilt and upgraded the first two times, but not this time. What engineer would want to run her?
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| CB&Q Montgomery Tower 15 days before the wreck.
These were called strong-arm plants and sometimes you had to use a leg too as demonstrated in this self portrait. If school had not begun, I may have been the leverman that awful night! |
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| Montgomery interlocking today. The tower is long gone and the interlocking is operated by a remote dispatcher. |
RI 651 listed as "traded in to EMD 2-65 after wreck 9-64," according to Louis A. Marre's "Rock Island Diesel Locomotives."
ReplyDeleteThe October 1965 TRAINS magazine article was actually written by Robert B. Shaw. I made a reference to it on another site, and the article was mistakenly attributed to me.
ReplyDeleteMike Woodruff
Do you know when the tower in Montgomery was removed from service? I remember the story in TRAINS. I would've been 13 at the time.
ReplyDeleteI assume it happened not long after the wreck and the changeover to CTC was what allowed the wreck. CTC is centralized traffic control meaning one dispatcher runs the whole railroad (signals, switches, etc.) for many miles.
DeleteHi Marty
ReplyDeleteFantastic story. I found a reference to this accident while doing some genealogy research on my wife's grandfather, who was an engineer on the CB&Q.
I was hoping you could help me find a copy of the ICC Accident Report about this accident. All of the links that I found on the net are "not found".
Again, great work.
Thank you
Greg Heseltine
I would assume the Library of Congress has a copy and they are searchable on-line. Also a university with a strong transportation program like MIT, Northwestern, U of Illinois, or UCLA would have a copy in their library.
DeleteSorry, I know that's not much help.
That's OK.
DeleteThx for taking the time to reply.
Greg
Hi Greg. I'm a retired Engineer from CB&Q/BNSF. I first worked for CB&Q in 1969. I'm curious if I knew your wife's grandfather. What was his name?
DeleteHi Marty
ReplyDeleteI tried this last night, but I'm not sure I did it right.
I came across this site while doing some genealogy research on my wife's grandfather, who was a CB&Q engineer in Illinois.
I am hoping to find a copy of the ICC Accident Report. All of the Google links that I could find don't appear to be active.
Is there any website, person or group that may be able to help me? (a .pdf, .doc etc... would work)
Thanks in advance
Greg
The Rock Island fireman survived due to alarm bell sounding about the time the Q train first came into view. He found the steam generator on the 750 had shut down. He had refilled the tubes and just turned the switch from refill to start position when the wreck occurred. He woke up in hospital a day or two later and thought the boiler had blown up. This information was related to me by his brother who was also in engine service on RI.
ReplyDeleteWhen the ICC accident report was released I was 3rd hours operator/leverman/clerk at Thornton Jct, Il on GTW. Every leverman had to read and sign that they understood the cause of the accident.
Long ago, I know I had a copy of the ICC accident report on the Montgomery wreck. I'd be happy to share it, but I have no idea where it is hiding in my house. :-(
ReplyDeleteI used that article to write an analysis of the wreck in a newsletter that I put out about interlocking towers some 25 years ago. I know I have a copy of the article, and will share if there's interest.
i can't find the ICC Report online at DOT.
DeleteI know – it's maddeningly missing from what is otherwise a pretty complete collection on the DOT site. If all else fails, the library here has a complete set of ICC accident reports.
DeleteI have a copy of the ICC ACCIDENT REPOTT
ReplyDeleteI would like to add a few details if the 1965 Trains is not available. When this was an all mechanical plant it took 2 levers to switch turnout 14 from normal to reverse or back. Number 14moved a length of pipe line the few inches that the switch points needed to move and moved the points. Number 15 moved similar pipe line and a locking mechanism at the points so they stayed put. When a mchhanical plant there was no delay between moving the points and locking them in place. BUT when 14 was converted to electric the ICC found there was a 2.6 second delay after the lever in the tower was moved before the points moved and if the latch on the lock lever was moved in that 2.6 seconds the points would not move but the tower levers would say they had do a clear signal could be given when only a restricting signal was proper. The railroad placed a note on the model board that 15 should not be moved until 14 had indicated it had completed it's movement. The night of the tragedy 14 had been reverse because of a prior move, it was normalled and 15 was reversed to lock it normal before the switch was actually normal so a clear signal was given into an occupied track over a reversed switch.
ReplyDeleteGreat job for publishing such a beneficial web site. Your web log isn’t only useful but it is additionally really creative too. There tend to be not many people who can certainly write not so simple posts that artistically. Continue the nice writing Moss And Colella
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your article. Being an 11 year old living 2 blocks away on River Street, the sound shook me out of my bed. I was probably one of the first people on the scene. The Beyer family lived in the house that backed up to the scene. They were close friends of mine. Lots of chaos and confused people. I'll never forget it. Thanks for sharing this insight into the causes.
ReplyDeleteOops, I'm not unknown, I'm Rusty Parsons.
DeleteIt took a bunch of librarians – both here at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and at Stanford University in California – to ferret out a copy of the accident report on the Montgomery false proceed and ensuing head-on collision.
ReplyDeleteI've uploaded the accident report to my website at https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/usa/icc/Ex%20parte%20244.%20CB%26Q.%20Montgomery%2C%20IL.%201964-09-27.pdf.
Let's also take a moment to remember the four dead railroaders:
Russel Reeves of Mokena (the CRI&P engineer on the detouring eastbound Rock Island train)
Robert Parker of Aurora (the CB&Q engineer pilot on the detouring eastbound Rock Island train)
George Donaldson of Galesburg (the CB&Q engineer on westbound Zephyr).
George Lincoln of Galesburg (the CB&Q fireman on the westbound Zephyr).
240 people (passengers and railroad employees) were injured, with five cases still hospitalized 48 hours after the accident.
As someone who follows railroad signaling technology (and assists in the teaching of the subject to engineering students), I am extremely interested the chain of events that led to the false proceed indication that allowed the Zephyr to run at speed through a diverging switch and to run into the standing Rock Island train.
The engineering process involved in designing, installing, and maintaining a safe signal system sets rigorous standards for what are termed "vital circuits". Their proper function is intended to prevent an unsafe, life-threatening state.
The term "indication locking" is a signaling fundamental whose purpose is to prove that a movable appliance like a switch or like a searchlight signal mechanism is actually in conformance with the the position requested before displaying a signal.
Signal circuit designs are routinely checked by two or three senior signal engineers in the design office before being released to the field, and on-site signal supervisors provide an additional opportunity to check the design for proper function. There is thus normally several stages where someone could have said "Wait a minute – this isn't right."
Something clearly went badly wrong at the Burlington's signal department that led to the Montgomery accident that "couldn't happen."
Unfortunately, with the passage of 65 years, I doubt we will ever find out exactly what went wrong in the design and installation process that permitted a signal installation that caused a head-on collision, and the death of four railroaders and injury to a couple hundred other people.
Sorry, I cannot open the link... I've had a copy of the accident for years. I could have sent it to you, but didn't know you were lookin for one.
DeleteHello; I've had a hardcopy (photocopy) of the report for some time, but couldn't find it. This scan is from an original, so it's better than what I had before!
DeleteThe link works for me if you take the final period off:
https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/usa/icc/Ex%20parte%20244.%20CB%26Q.%20Montgomery%2C%20IL.%201964-09-27.pdf
If that still fails, try
https://www.jonroma.net/rail/accident/
and scroll down the page to "United States (ICC)". The Montgomery accident is the last one under that category.
feel really bad when loved ones are lost, gent in the tower that night lived across the street from a relative, no tradgedy is just one thing , its a number of things , they were implenebting a new system , iv seen a traffic light go from green to red without going yellow dirst
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Donaldson, the engineer of the Westbound Zephyr, was a family friend of my best friend when we lived in Hinsdale. I met him a few times. A really nice man. He was still qualified to run steam engines and ran the 5632 on several excursions that I was aware of. BTW, 1964 was a magical time on the CB&Q along the racetrack in Hinsdale. Most of the time, you could look down the 3 track mainline and see at least one headlight, quite often in both directions. Besides a ridiculous number of commuter trains to Aurora, there were all the Zephyrs, The Great Northern Empire Builder, a few mail trains and of course the freights. Just for good measure, throw in the 4960 and the 5632 running to and from the Clyde servicing roundhouse to a healthy number of steam excursions. The excursions ended shortly after George Donaldson's death due to Louis Menk, a new President of the railroad who apparently disliked anything but freight. He was hated by rail fans and a number of commuters who spotted "Menk is a Fink" buttons.
ReplyDeleteSometime in the '80s, I believe there was an article in Trains about someone who actually kept track of all the trains on that section in a 24 hour period. If memory serves, the count was 202. This was definitely a reduction from the '60s as there were no more excursions, only a few ling distance trains and of course no mail trains.
I have never forgotten Mr. Donaldson and of course his death. Really heavy stuff for an 11 year old.
Rowland Sharp August 28, 2020
Thank you for your kind words about George Donaldson. He was a grand-uncle of mine, and I fondly remember the times when he and his wife Ethel joined in family get-togethers, and when visiting their home and in Galesburg, especially operating George's model railroad in the basement. I'm not a railroad man, and find it hard to fully understand what happened that day in 1964. The shock in the family was magnified when his brother-in-law Ghlee Wilson was killed in another train collision near Maquon, Illinois in 1972. We try to remember the good times though.
DeleteTom Arnold February 20, 2021
I worked for the Rock Island in the early 70’s as a fireman and when I was an engineer trainee, I worked with Don Blazer and it was his brother, Jim Blazer, that was the fireman on the Rock Island passenger train that had been back on the third unit when the collision occurred. I can remember waving to the widow of the engineer that was killed on the Rock Island passenger train who lived in Mokena. All the engine service guys would wave at her when we went through town.
ReplyDeleteI was 3 when my mother and I were in this trainwreck. She told me our traincar was slung sideways across the tracks. but we were not hurt. I'm fascinated by this story.
ReplyDelete