Train Wreck at Newark NY | RailroadPhotosByChuck.com

Train Wreck at Newark NY!

A large train wreck on the New York Central at Newark, NY was on the news in December, 1965. Newark, a town about 30 miles east of Rochester, is on the NYC main line. Not being old enough to have a driver’s license, I talked Mom into taking me and my camera there for part of a day.

A train wreck on a double-track main created quite a traffic jam. By the time we arrived, the wrecker had cleared the main of broken freight cars, and the track crews were very busy rebuilding the tracks. As you’ll see in the photos, a “shoo-fly”, or detour track around the wreck scene, had been put in place so some traffic could move through the area – sort of like driving on the shoulder when the highway is blocked by a jackknifed tractor trailer, except worse. I’m still surprised how close I got to the action – I think the crews were too busy to notice that some kid with a camera was standing nearby and crossing the tracks with so much rail activity going on.

My first view of the wreck scene – a trio of F units waiting in the hole with an eastbound freight, waiting for their turn through the bottleneck, while a TOFC train rolls by. A mobile wrecker crane is at the left of the scene.	A view of the carnage left behind: the mangled remains of a signal bridge; orphaned trucks with their journal boxes open; a string of wrecked covered hoppers and boxcars with spilled cargo.	I’m not sure where the rest of this Pennsy boxcar is…	Two eastbound trains waiting to pass the wreck site: on the third track (to the right) are the F units with the freight, and on the left are E units with a priority Flexi-Van train. “Left-hand running” on the double track main was common on the NYC around Rochester.
The eastbound, powered by E8As 4053 and 4070, proceed through the wreck site on the rebuilt north (left) track, while workers work on the demolished south track. The south track shoo-fly can be seen around the other side of the telegraph lines.	A view of the south track shoo-fly around the wreck site. Needless to say, the trains are under strict slow orders over this temporary and very rough track.	A westbound Flexi-Van hotshot, led by U25B 2526, gingerly negotiated the shoo-fly.	The lead units exit the shoo-fly and back onto the main (south) track, heading west to Rochester.
The Flexi-Van and 86’ long piggyback cars follow the U25Bs creep through the shoo-fly.

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Train Wreck at Newark NY!

My first view of the wreck scene – a trio of F units waiting in the hole with an eastbound freight, waiting for their turn through the bottleneck, while a TOFC train rolls by. A mobile wrecker crane is at the left of the scene.

A view of the carnage left behind: the mangled remains of a signal bridge; orphaned trucks with their journal boxes open; a string of wrecked covered hoppers and boxcars with spilled cargo.

I’m not sure where the rest of this Pennsy boxcar is…

Two eastbound trains waiting to pass the wreck site: on the third track (to the right) are the F units with the freight, and on the left are E units with a priority Flexi-Van train. “Left-hand running” on the double track main was common on the NYC around Rochester.

The eastbound, powered by E8As 4053 and 4070, proceed through the wreck site on the rebuilt north (left) track, while workers work on the demolished south track. The south track shoo-fly can be seen around the other side of the telegraph lines.

A view of the south track shoo-fly around the wreck site. Needless to say, the trains are under strict slow orders over this temporary and very rough track.

A westbound Flexi-Van hotshot, led by U25B 2526, gingerly negotiated the shoo-fly.

The lead units exit the shoo-fly and back onto the main (south) track, heading west to Rochester.

The Flexi-Van and 86’ long piggyback cars follow the U25Bs creep through the shoo-fly.