There was a train wreck in Lake Alfred, Florida on October 30, 1940. Then there was one in Kissimmee, Florida in 1945 where two E units tipped over. Then on May 1948, E-515 and E-530 of the ACL went off the tracks in Davenport, Florida. Does anyone have any information on these accidents? Thanks

-- Richard H Kearns (Kearnsrh@aol.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

Great stuff! -Thanks

-- Jim Coviello (jcovi60516@aol.com), August 09, 2001.

Jim-Go to the main DOT home page. In the Upper right hand corner there is a search site. enter special collections. When the next page pops up, you will see the words Home Page. Click on that, then you will see a listing of collections-ICC reports are in the middle.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), August 09, 2001.

I have been all over the DOT website and cannot find the section Michale mentioned for the accident reports. How about an actual URL? Thanks in advance!

-- Jim Coviello (jcovi60516@aol.com), August 09, 2001.

The accident at Lake Alfred occurred when train 92, engine 1605, entered into a siding at a high rate of speed and was derailed. The engineer, fireman and a student engineer were killed. The cause was a section gang was working in the area, entered the siding and the foreman neglected to have anyone ensure that the switch was lined for the mainline track.

The accident at Kissimmee happened on May 31, 1945. Train 91, engines 512,752,513 derailed when it hit a stretch of track which was kinked due to high temperatures. A track gang was working in the area and too many spikes and anchors were removed from the track. 43 were injured.

No records of the davenport accident-may have just been a straightforward derailment-not worthy of an ICC report.

I am surprised that you did not ask about the September 23, 1948 accident at Mango, Fl where train 76 entered into a siding at highspeed and struck a freight. The freight flagman threw the switch for the siding in front of the train, led by engines 529,755. Two were killed.

You can get copies of the ICC accident reports by going onto the US DOT web site, enter special collections, click on home page and then click on ICC reports. Click on table of contents, go to the year and look up the railroad. Enjoy!

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), August 08, 2001.