History in my family tells of my G.G.Grandfather Mr.Stephens working for the R.R. in Georgia during the Civil War and was killed when the boiler blew up on a run from Macon to Savannah. Where or how can I find information concering this accident.

-- Louise Snowden (wtls@Mail.Caironet.com), April 27, 1999

Answers

The wreck happened at Sargeant,GA. due to tracks being washed out from heavy rains.I have a copy of the Cedartown Standard newspaper article about the wreck.It shows engineer Charles Gober climbing from the cab of the overturned engine.He lived next door to my grandad and told me years later that if the engine had turned over the other way he would have been killed instead of my grandad.I will be glad to scan the pictures and article and email to anyone interaested.Also have pictures of another wreck that took place above Rome in the 1940's.Shows the big steam powered wrecker at work cleanin up the wreck.

Buddy Stephens

-- Robert L. Stephens III (no2hag@aol.com), February 10, 2004.

See if this link works. It gives the full description of the accident.

http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll? file&fn=6&name=F%3A%5CDOT%5CRailroad%5CWEBSEARCH%5C2328.PDF

You may have to copy the whole URL and paste it into your address bar.

Dale E. Burns Webmaster, Dale's Alabama Rail Pic's http://StagmiesALRailpics.homestead.com/Home.html Yahoo! IM ID: Stagmie

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NS CofGa Alabama Division P Line MP362.2

-- Dale E. Burns (trainshooter@charter.net), February 06, 2004.

Sixty-five years ago tomorrow,February 7,1939, there was a Central of Georgia derailment near Sargent,Coweta County, Georgia. Three men were killed, all from Cedartown, Georgia. They were Robert L. Stephens,46, conductor with 28 years of service. Charles Richardson,43,fireman, who had served for 21 years. The third person was my grandfather,Richard Dickerson Hall,40, brakeman with service of 16 years. All served on the Columbus Division of the Central of Georgia.

Janice D. Laster

-- Janice D. Laster (Cedar 532@aol.com), February 06, 2004.

My father and grandfather were both engineers for C of G. My grandfather was killed when a train rolled over and blew up. I think he was around Newnan or Griffin when it happened. I am rather interested in my family tree if you have information on the Stephens family I would be pleased if you could share it with me. If you need more info on this particular wreck I'll try to quiz family members about it.

-- Scott Stephens (IDOLOCKS@AOL.COM), August 13, 1999.

To add to Allen Tuten's good suggestions, the first place I would look would be the CRR Annual reports for the Civil War period. There was usually a narrative summary of significant events of the previous year, and tables showing statistics about locomotives, etc. It is likely that a boiler explosion, especially one involving a fatality, would be mentioned. If you found such a mention, this would narrow the period of time you need to search in the newspapers. Sets of CRR annual reports are at the Ga Historical Society (Savannah)and a partial set at the U. of GA (Athens).

-- David E. Paterson (tescopns@aol.com), May 19, 1999.

Louise,

The best place to begin your search would be at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. They have a large collection of documents and artifacts from the Civil War era. A search through the Savannah Morning News from that era might give some details about the accident. There may also be some Confederate or Union military records there that might provide further details. They also have a large collection of Central of Georgia (and Central Railroad and Banking Company) documents, but little information still exists from that far back. Good luck with your search.

-- Allen Tuten (ahtuten@aol.com), April 29, 1999.