Do any of you knowledgable rail fans living in western Indiana around Lafayette remember hearing about a derailment on the Wabash Railroad between Delphi and Americus. According to the story I heard, a locomotive went down into a deep gulley. It was impossible to lift it out, so the railroad officials decided to bury it. Is this a railroad legend or is it true. I have been assured by some persons that it really did happen.
I heard the story when in Lafayette a few years ago. I went out and rode the area and it’s very possible it happened, but I guess I should have taken a metal detector!
Start by looking at F7A 1141 and GP7 454 and what happened to them in 8/59.[%-)]
BURIED TREASURE !
Hmm !
An F-7 control stand is just what I’ve been looking for, for my model railroad !
Hey, Penn Central Black. I live out that way, and was just through there last week. Come on out and we’ll go hunting.
Mitch
OK, you guys probably want to keep law out of this one, but it has my imagination running.
According to the story, the locomotives were abandoned rather than lost–this means finders keepers in most jurisdictions.
I wonder what the liability would be for these locomotives. Say you really were so crazy as to go looking for them, and you dug on the downhill side of the locomotive, which allowed it to slide on to you, breaking your legs? Hmm . . .
However, before you get too many ideas, remember, trespassing is trespassing.
Gabe
The 454 was wrecked 8/59 at Elmira, OH and retired 6/60 and scrapped.
The 1141 was wrecked along with the 1172A at Elmira, OH on 17 Nov. 1959.
The 1141 was rebuilt to an F9A 1142:2 EMD order #8042. The 1172A was scrapped.
Data from Extra 2200 South #90.[8D]
It wouldn’t be totally unheard of - http://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/hist/accid.html - some of the stock involved in this accident in the UK was buried in the earthworks during rebuilding (it’s probably still there - a chunk of the line has been rebuilt by a volunteer group).
Two dubious legends that I’ve heard of and may have some validity is that there’s an engine in the Wabash River at Delphi from way back and there’s old turn of the century (the 19th) [;)] switch engines buried along the right-of-way west of Fort Wayne along a place once known as Prairie Switch, in a rather marshy area. Don’t have a clue as to if or not either story is true.
What happened at Elmira in 1959? That was on the Montpelier-Toledo line west of Toledo. The Elmira depot is in the Sauder Farm Museum at Archbold, Ohio