Anyone know the details of an ACL wreck in the 1950s (?) between Tampa and Orlando where a passenger train plowed into the rear of a train of emply livestock cars parked on the main while its crew was in a nearby bar having a few? My late uncle worked for the ACL and was riding as a passenger on the passenger train. According to the story, the passenger engine crew jumped and were not seriously injured. The other train crew was promptly dismissed from service among other things. The livestock cars became splinters.

-- Merrill Crissey, Sr. (merrill1940@hotmail.com), January 17, 2003

Answers

Merrill:

I was unable to find a wreck that matched your description in the ICC accident reports. Now all that means is that if a wreck such as that existed, it was not investigated by the ICC. There was a wreck in September 1948 at Mango where a passenger train was switched into a freight at the siding, but that was a head-on collision due to the brakeman throwing the siding switch directly in front of the passenger train.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak@mnr.org), January 21, 2003.