Train wreck.

[Trezurehunter]

I have never done it, but it could be very interesting. Treat it as any other old site you would detect. Good luck to you.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[gillious]

I have never done it, but it could be very interesting. Treat it as any other old site you would detect. Good luck to you.

Thanks

 

[OH..POPS]

Sounds like a fishing expedition to me.

 

[gillious]

Sounds like a fishing expedition to me.

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.

 

[Tpmetal]

How far west are you? I'm about 45 minutes east of Rochester.

i am an hour directly south of rochester

 

[Bioheat1969]

I've done a train wreck actually the one in East Thompson Connecticut, it was the largest train wreck in United States history. I've been doing the search at the old train station for the East Thompson Historical Society I've found many relics for them and I found a few coins for myself.

 

[gillious]

i am an hour directly south of rochester

We should try to find a spot and do some detecting.

 

[Almy]

I used to live near the rail line that went from Rochester to Sodus. At first it was used, as I heard, to take vacationers and day-trippers to Sodus. Maybe that was around 1900? Then it was used to pick up coal at a big, wooden trestle in Sodus Bay and take it to Eastman Kodak for their steam production. The line was called the Hojack. It was still running when I was a kid about 70 years ago, but only occasional trains and they were walking-slow because the line had degenerated. Might be some interesting stuff along the old bed.

 

[gillious]

I used to live near the rail line that went from Rochester to Sodus. At first it was used, as I heard, to take vacationers and day-trippers to Sodus. Maybe that was around 1900? Then it was used to pick up coal at a big, wooden trestle in Sodus Bay and take it to Eastman Kodak for their steam production. The line was called the Hojack. It was still running when I was a kid about 70 years ago, but only occasional trains and they were walking-slow because the line had degenerated. Might be some interesting stuff along the old bed.

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.

 

[Bioheat1969]

Well, since I thought you'd want to know more, I post about the train wreck and my finds here: http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=290824

 

[DCMatt]

Well, since I thought you'd want to know more, I post about the train wreck and my finds here: http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=290824

Interesting. Sadly, I couldn't see the pictures in your thread...

I poked around the internet looking at your train wreck. I am a bit surprised at how much information is out there. Same with the OP's wreck. Lots of details...

 

[Bioheat1969]

Train wrecks were the big news of their day. So they were very widely reported on, the one in East Thompson amazingly didn't have a lot of deaths only lots of injuries, there were I think only two people that died in that wreck. The wreck in Thompson was five trains, it was and remains the worst train wreck in U.S. history.

 

[DCMatt]

Train wrecks were the big news of their day. So they were very widely reported on, the one in East Thompson amazingly didn't have a lot of deaths only lots of injuries, there were I think only two people that died in that wreck. The wreck in Thompson was five trains, it was and remains the worst train wreck in U.S. history.

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.

 

[gillious]

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.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

there were 2 at the delaware water gap in almost the same spot along rt611 . they went into the river, there were parts of the freight car still there, the wheel carrages and alot of other misc pieces. the first was in the late 40s and the other was 1975. i went there early in my diving days and wasnt impressed, so never went back. one of the cars was carrying beer bottles. i found some bottles but never conclusively knew if they were from the train or the decades of activity there

ETA: found a link online about the site

Delaware River Water Gap ~ New Jersey Scuba Diving

njscuba.net