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A
Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. wreck
crew, called in to assist out of
C&O's Handley yard, worked
one end of the wreck, while a
Virginian wreck crew worked the
other.
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The
wreck alarm reached the Mullens
area Elmore Siding at 7:30 p.m.
and crewmen rushed to assemble a
wreck train to be sent to
Cirtsville. However, their passage
from the yard was blocked by a
previously wrecked box car which
stalled all eastbound operation
out of the area. The VGN wreck
crews got out of Elmore at 10:30
p.m. after, clearing the debris.
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The wreck blocked traffic
in both directions on the Virginian, and briefly stymied the scheduled
arrival of Virginia's general manager from Roanoke on a special train
enroute to Deepwater, which was scheduled to reach Elmore at 3:35 a. m. the
day after the wreck.
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Virginian
Ry. Divison Superintendent B.
Mills, of Princeton, remained at
the wreck the first night,
working out a 34 hour stretch
with wrecking crews. Both
locomotives would be repaired in
the railroad's Princeton Shops,
and would see more years of
service. However, by 1955 the
VGN's switch to diesels would
cause both locomotives to be
retired. No. 701 and No. 736
were among many VGN steam locos
either cut up or sold for scrap
during that year.
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Virginian
engineer Burt Kelly and fireman
Charles H. Gibson were among the
VGN train crewmen called out to
relieve crews that had
"hogged". Gibson's wife,
Anita Gibson, took the photos in
this series. The low-contrast
B&W were "colorized"
by C. L. Gibson.
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