Dear amh3-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. The train crash you are asking about was the California
Zephyr, a train of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Line. I found only
scant references online to the derailment you are referring to, but
this particular one offers surprisingly detailed information:
"By the middle sixties, Rio Grande's F3 units had accumulated hundreds
of thousands of miles and almost twenty years of service. Their
compatriots on EMD's assembly line in 1946 were falling by the
wayside, due both to passenger service reductions and to advancing
years; only Santa Fe and Burlington Northern were able to maintain
significant fleets of F3's into the seventies. Rio Grande, however
wasn't to be so fortunate. On July 25, 1965, the California Zephyr was
derailed at Pactolus Lake, Colorado. Power that day was the four-unit
set, #5521-5522-5523-5524, which had been a fixture on this train
since the early fifties- but after rolling down an embankment and even
ending up in the river, their anticipated repair costs were more than
the locomotives were worth. Accordingly, all four were retired on the
spot, but weren't officially traded back to their builder until the
following January, when they were joined by #5531, 5532,5533,5534, and
5543. In the meantime, during December of 1965, the Grande traded back
#5541, 5542, and 5544. These dozen units, plus F9B #5772, became
trade-in fodder for the Grandes's first series of GP40's: #3051-3063.
In less than a month, the F3 disappeared forever from Rio Grandes
rails."
ATLAS HOME (cached)
http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=%22July+25%2C+1965+%22+train+wreck&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&u=forum.atlasrr.com/topic.asp%3FTOPIC_ID%3D24198%26ARCHIVE%3D&w=%22july+25+1965%22+train+wreck&d=0B80337A6F&c=482&yc=16700&icp=1
Here are some historical photos of Engine 5524, one of the engines
destroyed in the crash, as it appeared in 1962 serving the D&RGW:
THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF OTTO C. PERRY
http://photoswest.org:8080/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+3778+594+7400+1+4
http://photoswest.org:8080/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?resultsScreen+3778+1+4+5
As I said, it isn?t much but as difficult as this one is to research
online I believe this is the best that can be done without making
inquires to local historical societies and newspapers.
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any questions
about my research please post a clarification request prior to rating
the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final comments
and I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Thank
you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
Defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINES USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Train
Accident
Derail
Derailed
Derailment
Crash
Wreck
Colorado
Pactolus Lake
1965
California Zephyr |
