My great grandfather was Andrew M. WIlder, who was a road manager for the AB&C from about 1900 when he lived in Abbeville until he was injured in a wreck in 1937 or 38. He used to catch the trolley from their house at the corner of Simpson St. and Davis St. (on RR property) and ride to a station where he would get on the train to (where ever his section of road was, I assume.) Sometimes he would ride in a coach and sometimes in the locomotive with the engineer. This particular morning he was in the locomotive, and when it wrecked he was thrown against the boiler. He lost his left leg, and died from heart problems from this injury about a year later. Can anyone lead me to a report or article about this wreck? I would really appreciate some help. I don't even know where to start looking. Is there a repository of old AB&C paperwork somewhere?

Thanks - Julie Frankle

-- Julie Frankle (saabist@earthlink.net), January 12, 2001

Answers

The only ICC accident report for the AB&C in the years you mention was one at Helena Alabama on March 1937 where and AB&C train was involved in a collision with an L&N train. You can look up the accident report on the US DOT web site. Go into their web site, enter special collections and go to the ICC accident reports.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), January 12, 2001.

My new book, Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, has a complete general history of the AB&C although no mention of this specific wreck. The book is available from ACL & SAL HS Product Sales, PO Box 325, Valrico, FL 33595, for $32 plus $3 shipping.

I do have some AB&C records in my collection but chances are slim that they will contain the information you are seeking. I will look when I get a chance.

From what you describe, I gather the wreck took place south of Atlanta, although you mention "Abbeville" which sounds like Abbeville, S. C. Anyway, if you meant Atlanta, and if you could pin down the date more precisely, microfilm copies of the Atlanta papers would almost certainly contain a short article on this wreck.

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), January 12, 2001.