Any information would be appreciated on the derailment of the OBS at Maxville,Florida, February 1947 other than what I read on pg. 63 of Shrady's book on the OB

-- frank brubaker (fnbrubaker@aol.com), January 15, 2003

Answers

The accident at Maxville Florida occured on February 14, 1947. Maxville is located about 103 miles north of Wildwood. The NB OBS consisted of three diesel units-3031,3019, 3101 and one baggage, five sleepers, one diner, four sleepers, one diner and four sleepers. All were heavyweight steel construction. The train was going 75 mph when at about 7:45 pm the rear truck of the eighth car derailed. The following eight cars also derailed. 23 passengers, 1 Pullman employee and 7 dining car waiters were injured.

The cause of the derailment was a broken rail. The particular rail involved was 100 lb/yd rolled in July 1934 by Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad Co. This particular type of rail from this particular manufacturer had a history of failure-especially on the rival Atlantic Coast Line, where it caused numerous wrecks. In fact, the ACL started a program before WW-II ended to replace its 100 lb TCI&R rail with 131 lb rail. Interestingly enough, the Seaboard started to experience broken rails after the end of the war.

I can provide you with a copy of the ICC accident report if you so desire.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak@mnr.org), January 16, 2003.

Frank & All,

I tired the link I sent and it didn't work--it was missing an "underscore" at the end. Try the link below instead. If your browser separates the link into two lines, combine it into one line with no spaces.

http://www2.websearchstudio.com/scripts/ws.dll? login&site=dot_railroads

John Golden Travis AFB, CA

-- John Golden (Golden1014@yahoo.com), January 16, 2003.

Here you go, Frank. I tired ot paste the report into the website but it must be too big. You can get the complete report at: http://www2.websearchstudio.com/scripts/ws.dll?ogin&site=dot_railroads

John Golden Travis AFB, CA

-- John Golden (Golden1014@yahoo.com), January 16, 2003.