Pueblo County CO Archives History .....I. C. C. Report Of D. & R. G. Train Wreck 1912
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 23, 2008, 7:54 pm

                                   August 26, 1912.
In Re Investigation of Derailment on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, July 30,
1912.

On July 30, 1912, there was a derailment of Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
passenger train on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at Pueblo, Colorado,
resulting in the death of the engineer and two passengers and the injury of
three passengers and three employees. After investigation into the nature and
caused of this accident, the Chief Inspector of Safety Appliance reports as
follows:

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific train No. 206 was an eastbound passenger train
running on the tracks of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad between Pueblo and
Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was hauled by engine No. 1325, and consisted of
one combination baggage and smoker, one chair car and two standard Pullman
sleepers, in charge of Conductor Hazelbaker and engineman Swearinger. This train
was due to leave Pueblo at 8:20 p.m., but on account of heavy rains it did not
leave until 10:20 p.m., and was derailed about 3 miles east of Pueblo station at
10:30 p.m. The estimated speed at the time of derailment was from 12 to 20 miles
per hour.

The forward trucks of the engine remained on the tracks at the north end of the
fill. The engine being dragged backwards by the cars in the train it turned over
and landed in the bottom of the river. The tank of the engine became detached
from the trucks and was washed down the river nearly a quarter of a mile. The
combination baggage and smoking car was carried down the river about 200 feet.
The chair car turned over almost on its side and rested in the river. The front
end of the forward sleeper went down into the river, the rear and remaining
partially up on the embankment. The rear sleeper remained on the track.

This division of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad is double tracked from Pueblo
to Dundee, a distance of about 6 miles, and is used jointly by the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grade Railroads, eastbound trains using
the right hand track. At the place of the accident the road runs along the west
bank of the Fountain River. The track is straight, with nothing to obstruct the
view for a distance of 20 telegraph poles approaching the place of the accident,
which occurred upon a one-half degree curve. The track construction is
substantial, being ballasted with smelter slag and cinders. Thirty foot 85-lb.
Steel rails are used, 18 soft pine ties to the rail. The rails are single
spiked, no tie plates being used. Four miles of double track and 2.88 miles of
siding are maintained by a foreman and 5 section men.

The embankment where the derailment occurred consists of about 12 feet of a fill
built in 1894, and is protected by a rip rap wall of heavy derrick rock, the
footing being carefully made of brush with the heavy derrick rock laid on top,
filled in with smaller rock laid by hand, making a smooth surface. A line of
cottonwood trees has brown along the base of this wall for a distance of half a
mile, many of the trees being 10 inches in diameter. The Fountain River as a
rule carries only a small amount of water, but the current runs directly against
the wall and the river bed is composed largely of quicksand. There was no rain
falling at the time of the accident, but earlier in the evening there had been a
very heavy rainfall extending throughout the valley tributary to the Fountain
River.

Section foreman King and tack walker Meyers stated that on account of the heavy
rainfall they were patrolling the track and looked over this place of track
between 9:00 and 9:15 p.m., at which time it appeared to be in proper condition.
Conductor Hazelbaker stated he was in the chair car at the time of the accident
and his first indication that there was anything wrong was a swaying sensation
as if the train was going sideways. He though the train was running at a speed
of from 10 to 12 miles per hour. He had several slow orders, none of which
covered the place of the accident. Fireman Elrod stated they were running about
20 miles per hour, and though the engine was equipped with an electric headlight
which was burning brightly at the time of the accident he saw nothing wrong with
the track.

This accident was caused by a portion of the fill or embankment on the west side
of the Fountain River sliding into the river under the weight of the train, it
evidently having become undermined by the flood waters of the river caused by
heavy rains.

                   Respectfully submitted,

                              Chief Inspect of
                              Safety Appliances.


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