Aurich, Arkansas wreck 11/29/1949

[SSW9389]

Aurich, Arkansas Wreck
5:30 AM November 29, 1949

On this day 60 years ago two Cotton Belt freight trains met head on in the fog at the siding called Aurich about a mile North of Ulm, Arkansas. A long southbound freight had just sawed by a northbound passenger train at Aurich. After the southbound freight allowed the passenger train by it was getting ready to repeat the maneuver with a northbound freight when the accident occurred. The diesel powered northbound entered the siding and hit the L1 powered southbound freight head on. The accident was blamed on the northbound crew being unable to see a warning flare because of the fog. The complete story is in The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer of nearby Stuttgart. The paper had this story on its front page Tuesday November 29, 1949. You can find a copy of this paper on Microfiche at the Stuttgart Library.

“Two Cotton Belt Freight Trains Collide; Traffic Blocked
Front Engine of Diesel Wrecked When It Hit Steam Engine On Siding.”

The very next day the paper ran a shorter story of the front page.

“Wrecker Clears St. L.-S. W. Tracks After Collision”

What caused this wreck? What were the results of it and what happened to the two FT units. I had become intrigued with this event after seeing some photos of the wreck on the Geocities site that has since been taken down. The one striking photo on that site was the one with the FT A unit with its long end up in the air and the 16V-567A engine showing outside the carbody. Another photo of the Aurich wreck is here
www.northeast.railfan.net/images/slsw817.jpg

Emails were exchanged with EMD historian Andre J. Kristopans. It is Kristopan’s speculation that the two wrecked Cotton Belt FTs were beyond the repair capability of Pine Bluff shops. The two wrecked FTs were shipped off to LaGrange either as trade in material or to be rebuilt. The first five repair jobs at EMD are undocumented on Kristopan’s website #7000-7004. The two Cotton Belt FTs are likely to be one of these repair jobs at EMD. community-2.webtv.net/ajkristopans/REPAIRJOBS/

In February 1950 the Cotton Belt received seven F7A units and four F7B units. These were a part of EMD order number E3001. At the same time Southern Pacific was receiving its EMD order number E3015 for 16 F7As and 16 F7Bs.

Later in April 1950 Cotton Belt received one F7A and one F7B. These two units were on EMD order number 3055. Were these two units ordered as a result of the Aurich Wreck? I have no way to tell, but do note that this was a separate order to EMD for a single A and a single B unit. EMD order number 3056 was for the Cotton Belt’s FP7 unit also delivered in April 1950. The next Southern Pacific order for F7s didn’t start delivery until October 1950. See community-1.webtv.net/ajkristopans/FREIGHTCABUNITS/page3.html for EMD order numbers, serial numbers and road numbers of the F7 units. Or see www.trainweb.org/emdloco/ordersearch.htm and look in the 3000 series of EMD orders.

Ed Cooper
CBRHS #114 Pine Bluff Chapter

[SSW9389]

Here is a quote from the paper, "The front unit of the diesel was telescoped by the impact, and the motor forced through the roof. No cars pulled by the diesel left the tracks. The steam locomotive was pushed back almost 100 yards and several cars of that train were derailed." from the The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer November 29, 1949.

The November 30, 1949 edition of the paper said the Cotton Belt wrecker crews had the track cleared by 9:10 PM some 15 hours and 40 minutes after the wreck.

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Aurich, Arkansas was on the Jonesboro Sub-Division at milepost 225.17. It had a 98 car passing siding, about 4410 feet long. It was just north of Ulm, AR at milepost 226.27. And south of Roe, AR at milepost 220.62. The nearest open agencies with Day/Night telegraph were Clarendon (CN), at milepost 214.03 and Stuttgart (Z), at milepost 233.31. Pine Bluff Shops was at milepost 266.72.

The L1 powered too long southbound freight had just cleared northbound #6 and had backed up to repeat the maneuver with the diesel powered northbound when the collision occurred.

www.mx.reocities.com/TheTropics/8199/head_on.html

The photos on the linked site were taken the morning of the accident looking west. Additional accident information is available on page 1 of The Daily Leader and Arkansawyer for November 29th and 30th, 1949. The newspaper is on microfiche at the Stuttgart Public Library. As you will see from the linked photos the 921 was destroyed in the wreck. The thing sticking up in the air is the 16V-567A engine from the 921.

Does a new frame equal a new unit? I think it does, otherwise you have the roster anomaly of 20 number slots built on 21 frames.

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Diesel historian Doug Cummings has emailed me and told me the frame was considered a part by EMD. Any railroad could get a new frame and commence rebuilding a unit or the unit could be sent to EMD and a new frame would be a part of the rebuild. In all the Cotton Belt rosters I've seen post Aurich the 921 is never considered to be anything other than an FT by the railroad.

[SSW9389]

Additional research with "new" Aurich photos posted on Facebook reveal that the likely consist of the FT diesel was 921-922-924-923/A-B-B-A. And that all four units were returned to EMD for rebuild. There is an H K Vollrath photo in my possession that shows the recently rebuilt 923 leading two 1945-built booster units. I believe that they are the 922 and 924. The Vollrath photo is dated March 1950.

The other new thing about this wreck is that the lead unit, the 921 was wrecked previously and rebuilt previously by EMD. The 921 may have been numbered 920A on this previous wreck.

[SSW9389]

Aug 13, 2014 11:04:42 GMT -5 SSW9389 said:

Additional research with "new" Aurich photos posted on Facebook reveal that the likely consist of the FT diesel was 921-922-924-923/A-B-B-A. And that all four units were returned to EMD for rebuild. There is an H K Vollrath photo in my possession that shows the recently rebuilt 923 leading two 1945-built booster units. I believe that they are the 922 and 924. The Vollrath photo is dated March 1950.

The other new thing about this wreck is that the lead unit, the 921 was wrecked previously and rebuilt previously by EMD. The 921 may have been numbered 920A on this previous wreck.

The 920 four unit FT set was wrecked at Renault siding in southern Illinois on November 16, 1948. The wreck resulted in all four units of the 920 set being returned to EMD for rebuilding. The stories of the 920A and 920D, the FTA units is filling in nicely. We know the 921 was repaired in kind and met its end at Aurich. What is unknown is what exactly happened to the FTB units 920B and 920C from the Renault wreck. One or both of them may have been rebuilt on F7 frames, unknown at this time.