Between 1945 and 1951 my father took me at night to see a train wreck near Statesville, North Carolina. There was china, etc. all over the place so it must have been a passenger train. Can anyone give me information about this wreck?

-- Carolyn Crabtree (ctree1492@earthlink.net), December 14, 2003

Answers

Carolyn,

It sounds as though you are asking about Southern Railway Train 15, that derailed at Newton, N.C., on September 19, 1949. The accident was caused by excessive speed in a curve. The two diesel units turned over. Two dining car employees and the fireman were killed and 20 passengers, five dining car employees, one railway-mail clerk, one train porter and two trains service employees were injured. This was covered by ICC Report No. 3280, but I imagine that a check with many newspapers in the area covered it, especially Salisbury, Hickory, and Charlotte.

J. Marvin Black

-- J. Marvin Black (sr6100diesel@bigfoot.com), November 25, 2004.