Does anyone have the consists of the trains involved in the August 5 1968 head on collision of the Silver Meteors at Winter Haven Fla.? I have copies of the FRA report-need the train consists for both 57 and 58. If you have the disposition of the carss, that would also help. Thanks!

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), October 23, 2000

Answers

I have transferred the 8mm movies of the Winter Haven wreck and will try to have a web page with stills set up in the next week or two.

Bruce B.

-- Bruce Bertrand (early_films@prodigy.net), March 12, 2001.

Last unit # SCL 571

-- J Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), December 26, 2000.

SUN RAY was on the NB train.

-- J.Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), December 23, 2000.

A little help, SCL E units E7A 527 scrapped E7A 564 E7B 668B E7A 529 rebuilt E7A 528 E6A 507 scrapped plus one other

only two cars I could identify ACL 48 seat diner "Orlando" RF&P sleeper "Essex" The passenger cars on the NB train suffered more damage than on the SB train.On the NB train was a "Sunlounge" that was damaged,but later rebuilt.The two lead units on the SB train,plus two SAL box express cars absorbed most of the impact,thus saving most of the passenger cars.At that time I was more interested in the wrecked locomotives than recording consists,something(I regret)that did not get my attention back then.

-- Joseph Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), December 21, 2000.

I have pictures.

-- J Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), December 21, 2000.

The photos in the dnaco.net website do appear to be from our train. Sometime after the holidays, I will try to transfer the 8mm film and grab some stills.

-- Bruce Bertrand (early_films@prodigy.net), December 19, 2000.

Bruce, check out the Fallen Flags Website http://www.dnaco.net/~gelwood/ Look under SCL and then go to "buildings and locations" and you will find several photos of wrecked SCL E units in Waycross Ga captioned Nov. '68. Do these look like the wrecked locomotives you remember seeing at the wreck? Your photos would certianly be of great interest to members of this society. Anything you could post would be great! I went through the wreck site on the South Wind a few days after the wreck. There were still "body parts" of locomotives beside the tracks.

-- Jim Coviello (jcovi60516@aol.com), November 30, 2000.

The "consist" is the order and numbering of the cars which constituted the train. As an example, a typical consist would be listed as

ACL 502 E-6 ACL 522 E-6 ACL 8 RPO ACL 205 56 seat coach FEC Hypoluxo 56 seat coach PRR 4498 Hvywt Diner ACL 256 Tavern Lounge FEC Bahamas 10-6 Sleeper

Griffin in his new book on RF&P passenger service indicates that one of the RF&P sleepers built for the SAL was involved in the wreck and was taken out of service, converted to a work train sleeper, and eventually scrapped.

According to the FRA accident report, the northbound train was to have taken the siding that day, as opposed to the normal routine by which the southbound train takes the siding. The dispatcher lost control of the CTC system just before the accident and could not establish the normal route as there was no control of the switch machines. The dispatcher left the southbound on the main track and expected that the northbound would stop at the signal at the siding. The northbound's fireman was not in the cab at the time of the wreck and the engineer claimed that he misread the signal as an approach rather than a stop. The engineer claimed that he did apply his brakes, but then he released them, only to disciver that the signal was indeed a stop. You have confirmed his statement by saying that the train appeared to speed up before the accident.

I would be interested in any prints of the accident you could make from the movies.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak @MNR.org), November 30, 2000.

I was on the northbound train. I was 8 years old at the time. I've been trying to find detailed information including any final determination as to what caused the accident. I personally found it odd that we sped up quite a bit as we approached that switch. I have 8mm movies of the aftermath.

By the way, what is a "consist".

BB

-- Bruce Bertrand (early_films@prodigy.net), November 30, 2000.