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  • 1970 Freight train derailment in Riverhead

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1466467  by jhdeasy
 
Just about a month later (August 21, 1970), some miles to the west of Riverhead, train # 212 the Shelter Island Express collided with a tractor trailer loaded with freshly harvested potatoes and derailed at Manorville. The railroad was not at fault in that grade crossing incident.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrwr ... _Collision
 #1466522  by larryk1949
 
I was hired in Jan 1971. In my ticket class was a Mr Diaz. He was the conductor involved in this incident. He was restricted from Freight Service after this accident and so had to qualify on tickets. Yes in those days some men never worked in passenger service. I think the accident happened sometime in the fall of 1970. Mr Diaz was out of service for sometime and then resumed his career in passenger service. The drop went bad because the fireman who was operating from the lead unit, stopped too short fouling the siding. When the propane car rolled into the siding it side swiped the trailing engine and ruptured. Why they were making an eastbound move going west I never got the answer. If it was the regular job, it was a double end job meaning they worked east, spent the night in Greenport and then after eight hours worked west. They may have been running late and decided to make the move the next day. I know everyone involved was very experienced, and the handling of hazardous material was done different then. The training dept has a film of the car burning and uses it for training purposes. Fortunately no one was injured. I worked with Mr. Pack the engineer, and he told me he would not get off the engine in Riverhead anymore. He was afraid someone would recognize him.
 #1466616  by freightguy
 
Lirrcustoms,

That was a really interesting arbitration report you posted. It goes to show how much power the railroad unions used to have. Today that employee wouldn’t stand a chance of getting his job back. Certainly different times and still 16 hour work days in effect before it went 14 then 12 under hours of service.