That's exactly what it is. I'm not expecting to find much if anything of monetary value. I'm just looking for a window into the local history of a local event that I know happened 121 years ago. That in itself has value to me. You can't catch them if you don't throw in a line.
i am an hour directly south of rochester
That's great. I live 1 road over from the line. I am still trying to see if the right of way has reverted back to the property owners or if it still belongs to a railroad. The tax map isn't very clear.
Interesting. Sadly, I couldn't see the pictures in your thread...
Funny you should mention "news". I found the wreck that gillious is researching reported in a Virginia newspaper. It also had 2 deaths in the crash but about a dozen more people died from injuries - mostly burns. I couldn't figure that one out until I found the crash inspector's report. Apparently the engine went off the track and spun around 180 before coming to rest tilting sideways towards the track. The passenger car then came to rest next to the locomotive shearing off the whistle and filling the car with steam from the boiler. Ouch! The inspectors final report was inconclusive regarding the cause of the crash.
The last or rather current belief is that the rails spread just as the tracks enter a curve allowing the engine and 3 cars to derail. Only the private Pullman car owned by one of the railroad executives that was on the trip did not go off the tracks. At the time of the accidentit was believedthat track spread was not the cause . The engine hit a large boulder after it left the tracks. This is what caused the engine to turn back in the other direction.
