Howard-Baltimore-Montgomery County MD Archives News.....WRECK OF THE FEDERAL EXPRESS January 16, 1953 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/md/mdfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Maureen Moore odubhghaill@gmail.com August 7, 2006, 7:54 pm Washington Post January 16, 1953 WASHINGTON POST January 16, 1953 John Wright Feeney, one of the Stationmasters. WRECK OF THE FEDERAL EXPRESS UNION STATION, WASHINTON D.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- There were two questions asked over and over again yesterday- by passengers, investigators, and newsmen covering the runaway train crash at Union Station. And the answers were skimp. The first: How did the brakes fail and why weren't auxiliary brakes applied? This was the answer of Stationmaster Arthur J. Dubs. The train was equipped with a Westinghouse airbrake, which is applied from the cab of the locomotive. "Why it failed or even if it failed, I don't know," Dubs declared. "The train's cars each have individual emergency brakes which applied by pulling a handle on each car and also a hand brake which has to be wound down manually until it slows the wheels," Dubs said. Dubs could not determine whether such individual brakes had been applied but pointed out it would take substantial time for train men to get from car to car on the 16 coach train. The question asked was: Why wasn't the train diverted to some other route so it wouldn't come into the heart of the Station Plaza? Dubs said there was no radio on the train and the first his station aides knew of trouble was when Tower K Men at K Street, N.E., heard the continuing short blasts on the locomotive horn and notice the excessive speed. "The limit coming into the station is 25 miles per hour," he said. The Stationmaster said the route for incoming train to enter Union Station was set and the switches along the way.....?...piecemeal as the enter the Station. When the train was discovered "out of control" by Tower K, it was "too late," Dubs said," to try to change the routing since the tower is less than a half minute away from the Station." It was due to the quick thinking of John W. Feeney, 45 year old train director, that the Station master's office was warned of the oncoming train. He heard the distress signals, noticed the speed of the train, and shouted into his phone that it was uncontrollable. The Stationmaster's office is just one track over from the crash area and was nearly demolished by the pile up. Feeney lives at 10529 St. Paul Street, Kensington, MD and has been with the Washington Terminal for 29 years. ----------------------------------------------------------------- There was one part I could not transcribe with the "?" mark. I think it was just a word or two. MM Additional Comments: This was my grandfather John W. Feeney on duty for the Wreck of the Federal Express. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mdfiles/ File size: 3.1 Kb