Source: The Mining Journal
Marquette, Mi.
January 16, 1892 Saturday

Another Runaway Train

Another big wreck went down on the record for the dreaded
L'Anse hill Monday morning and the officials of the South
Shore are again in mourning, while another operator is in the
soup. Freight No. 31, leaving Marquette at midnight, was
laying at L'Anse taking water when a terrific whistling on
the great hill behind her told that another runaway was at
hand and jumping to his lever the engineer made every ef-
fort te get away while the train crew hastily abandoned the
doomed caboose. Down the hill with a wild unbroken shriek
from her whistle came engine No. 200 with steam and air
brakes set but with 13 flat cars heavily loaded with logs
shoving her on to destruction at a terrific speed.

An instant later and there was a fearful crash, No. 200
swept through the caboose and four empty box cars of the
freight train and then seemed to leap into the air and,
turning end from end, landed a complete wreck on the north
side of the track, with her head turned towards the hill,
the very oppesite direction from that in which she has been
going. But the log train clung to the rails, pushed past
the wrecked engine and, smashing further into the freight
train crashed through the bridge over Fall river landing in
inextricably confusion on the icebound river 30 feet be-
neath.

The destruction was complete and awful. Ten empty box
cars and a caboose formed the rear guard of No. 31, the
caboose being right near the depot. After the wreck, the
last undamaged car stood on the other side of the bridge,
400 or 500 feet west of the depot, and of the caboose and
the four cars just ahead of it only kindling wood was left.
Axles and car wheels were broken into pieces and of the
body of the cars hardly a piece was left more than four feet
long. The logging cars were piled into the river ina
shapeless mass and the great logs had been thrown in every
direction as if from a catapult, some even had been thrown
onto the farther bank of the river, beyond the bridge, which
went down with the wreck, ensuring a total blockade for sev-
eral days in all probability.

Conductor Lafrinier had tke log train with engineer Charles-
worth in No. 200, Webb's engine for three years. There were
13 cars in the train, averaging 4,000 feet to the car or
about 50,000 feet. The logs being owned by DeHaas, Powell
& Co., of this city, and being loaded half a mile this side
of Kitchi, while they were intended for the merchandise dock
at L'Anse, whence they were to be towed in the spring to the
firm's mill at Huron Bay. This was the second train sent down
and of the 13 cars seven had air brakes, while in the first
train only seven had air. The trains regularly are supposed
to have sixteen cars, half with air. At Summitt the train
waited, according to standard orders until notified by the
operator at L'Anse that No. 31 had pulled out, then started
pe 2 Another Runaway Train 1/16/1892

down the hill. Between the section house and Taylor's the crew
found that the train was getting away from them and although
the air was on and the hand brakes set as fast as possible they
saw the train gathering a headway which left no doubt of the
result.

Finding that the train was entirely beyond control even with
the steam driver brakes jammed on Engineer Charlesworth and his
fireman tied down the whistle cord and started back over the
logs for their lives. As soon as they had reached the caboose
the train crew cut loose and came down in safety. The abandon-
ed train gathered speed with every rail length as the brakes
were loose, but rounded the curve at the foot of the hill by
the depot where other runaways have met their fate, in safety.
The guard rail probably holding it on the track. Having pass-
ed this critical point the train would have gone into Baraga
without accident, in all probability, but for the operator's
error in reporting No. 31 as cleared. There the freight was
on the main track, the engineer doing his best to get it un-
derway, and the tail end collision which followed resulted in
as much damage as if the runaway had left the rails at the
curve and swept through the depot again on the path of the
last runaway.

Superintendent Philbin left the city with the wrecker
train as soon as the wreck was reported and at a late hour
jast night had not returned so that the company's estimate of
the loss cannot be ascertained. Fortunately no employes rec-
eived a scratch.

WSS&A
Stations - L'Anse
Gary Brogan