1920 – March 14, trains collide head-on, Rutland RR, ½ mile north of Riverside, VT —     10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-30-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Brattleboro Daily Reformer, VT. “Recover Body of Dead Engineer.” 3-17-1920, p. 1.

–10  ICC.  Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 3, January-March 1920, p. 44 (159).

Narrative Information

U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission: “Head-end collision between a passenger train and a freight train near Riverside, Vt., on March 14, 1920, which resulted in the death of 5 passengers and 5 employees, and the injury of about 25 passen­gers, 1 employee, and 6 Pullman porters.

“This accident was caused by the failure of the crew of the freight train correctly to read and be governed by a train order, ‘Bartons­vine,’ the point at which the passenger train was to wait, being mis­taken for “Bellows Falls.”

“The subdivision on which this accident occurred is a single-track line, over which trains are operated by time-table and train orders. A special bulletin order restricted the speed of all passenger and milk trains to 40 miles an hour, while another bulletin order restricted the speed of freight trains to 25 miles an hour.

“The accident occurred about one-half mile north of Riverside, a station located 2 miles north of Bellows Falls. Approaching the point of accident from the south there is a 3-degree curve to the left 280 feet in length and then 138 feet of tangent track to the point of accident. Approaching from the north there is a curve of 1 degree and 30 minutes to the right 231 feet in length and then 315 feet of tangent track to the point of accident. The grade at the point of accident is level. An engineman approaching from the north can see the point of accident for a distance of approximately 2,500 feet, but on account of an embankment on the west side of the track he would have no view of an approaching northbound train. The range of vision of an engineman on a northbound train is limited to a very short distance. The weather was clear.

“Southbound freight train extra 28. Consisting of engine 28, 46 Cars, and a caboose, departed from Rutland at 12.55 p. m. and at 4.07 p. m. arrived at Gassetts. 34.5 miles south of Rutland. While water was being taken, with the engine at a point about 100 feet north of the station, the operator on duty received train order No. 414, addressed to the crew of the extra; this order read as follows:

No. one sixty fire 165 wait at Bartonsville until four fifty 4.50 p.m. for ex. 28 south.

“Bartonsville is 8.5 miles south of Gassetts and 9.2 miles north of Bellows Falls. A copy of train order No. 414, but no clearance card, was delivered to the fireman of extra 28 as the engine passed the station and a second copy and a clearance card were delivered to the conductor on the caboose by means of a hoop. The extra de­parted from Gassetts at 4.11 or 4,12 p. m., passed Bartonsville, and at 4.39 p. m. collided with train No. 165 while traveling at a speed believed to have been approximately 45 miles an hour.

“Northbound passenger train No. 165 consisted of an engine and 5 cars. At Bellows Falls the crew received train order No. 414 and the train left that point at 4.33 p. m., 1 hour and 38 minutes late on its schedule. When it collided with extra 28 about 6 minutes later its speed was approximately 35 miles an hour. The engine of train No. 165 was thrown to the west side of the track and came to rest in a reversed position with its front end in the forward end of the second car of the train. This engine was completely stripped, its boiler was torn from the frame, and the machinery practically de­stroyed. The first car in train No. 165 was destroyed, while the forward end of the second car was badly damaged. The engine of extra 28 was thrown over the embankment on the east side of the track. Twelve cars of the freight train were derailed, 8 of which were practically destroyed. The employees killed were the engine- man, fireman, and one brakeman of train No. 165, and the engineman and head brakeman of extra 28.

“According to the fireman of extra 28, when train order No. 414 was received at Gassetts the engineman read it aloud to both the fireman and head brakeman and read the point named in the order as ‘Bellows Falls.’ The fireman was positive that when the oper­ator delivered the order he said, ‘Wait at Bellows Falls until 4.50; I haven’t got time to make out a clearance; that is all there is; go ahead.’ If the operator did make this remark to the fireman, which he emphatically denied, it is possible that the engineman overheard it and was thereby misled as to the contents of the order.

“Both the conductor and flagman of extra 28 stated that they also read the point named in train order No. 414 as ‘Bellows Falls’ instead of ‘Bartonsville,’ but the evidence indicated that a doubt existed in the mind of the conductor as to the point named and he was therefore grossly negligent in failing to stop his train at Chester, the next station beyond Gassetts, for the purpose of finding out exactly what rights had been given his train. Both the conductor and flagman read the order twice and regardless of how they made the error they were at fault for their failure to read the order with proper care. Had they clone so it is probable that they would not. Have misread the order, in spite of the manner in which it was written.

“The fireman and head brakeman were also responsible for their failure to read the train order as required by rule 211-A. Had this rule been obeyed by either the fireman or the head brakeman, or both, it is possible that they would have read it correctly, and in that event this accident undoubtedly would not have occurred.

“The engineman of extra 28 also violated the speed restriction of 25 miles an hour. The evidence is conclusive that only 14 minutes were consumed by the train between Chester and the point of acci­dent, a distance of approximately 11 miles, or at an average rate of speed of 47 miles an hour. The crew of extra 28 also violated rule 507 by not testing the air brakes at Gassetts and at Summitt, at both of which points the train line had been broken. The engineman, also violated rule 221 by leaving Gassetts without a clearance card when the train-order board was displayed.

“While train order No. 414, as written, was sufficiently legible to have given the crew of extra 28 the necessary information, the operator at Gassetts was open to censure for the manner in which he handled this order.  In receiving the order from the dispatcher he made an error in the number of the order, and when his attention was called to the fact by the dispatcher he failed to correct it.

“He also authorized the extra to pass the train-order board without a clearance card, and this, together with the manner in which he wrote the order, indicated a lack of realization of the importance of the duties he was supposed to perform. Carelessness of this nature is one of the causes frequently leading to accidents of this character and should not be tolerated. (A detailed report covering the investi­gation of this accident was published by the Commission under date of April 16, 1920.)”  (ICC.  Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 3, January-March 1920, p. 44-46 (159-161).)

Newspaper

March 14: “Green Mountain Flyer and Freight Meet Head On

“Bellows Falls, March 14. – With eight dead and one unaccounted for, one badly injured and several others hurt, the wreck of the north-bound flyer and a south-bound freight train on the Rutland railroad about three miles north of here constitutes one of the most disastrous accidents that ever occurred in this vicinity. The known dead are as follows:

George F. Cady, Rutland, engineer of the freight train/

Cornelious P. Sullivan, Bellows Falls, engineer of flyer.

William P. Farrell, Rutland, fireman of the flyer.

Francis J. Rafferty, Rutland, trainman of the flyer.

John S. Lent, Rockingham, passenger, instantly killed.

1. S. Lent, son of above, Rockingham, died in hospital.

Enoch Bulloch of Ludlow, traveling salesman, died in hospital.

George A. Simonds, 55, St. Lawrence street, Portland, Me.

“The cause of the accident is undetermined, but it is known that the freight train had no time card rights over the passenger train, No. 165, and was expected by the dispatchers to wait at Bartonsville until the flyer had passed. As the flyer was two hours late the crew of the freight train were given until 4:40 to run against the opposing train, and this would naturally have held them at Bartonsville. As the wreck occurred about 4:50, there must have been some misunderstanding or over-running of the orders.

“The trains met head-on near the siding of Riverside, going at a speed said to have been about 30 miles an hour, and the impact completely wrecked the engine of the passenger train and the two empty milk cars immediately behind the engine, the destruction being of the most terrific character. The smoking car of the flyer, immediately behind the milk cars, contained the three passengers who were killed and the one seriously injured.

“The engine of the freight train went down the bank and 15 cars were telescoped, the wreckage being strung along the right of way for 100 yards.

“Three passengers were taken to the Rockingham hospital in a serious condition, but, outside of the train crews and the fatal smoker on the passenger train the passengers in the other cars escaped as a rule with only abrasions and a bad shaking-up. Only one man out of the five known to be in the smoker escaped uninjured.” (Bennington Evening Banner, VT. “Eight Killed in Wreck Near Bellows Falls.” 3-15-1920, p. 1.)

March 17: “Shortly before 11 o’clock today the wrecking crews at work on the debris on the Rutland railroad three miles from Bellows Falls found the body of Engineer Cornelius Sullivan of Bellows Falls, who was killed in the wreck Sunday afternoon shortly before 5 o’clock, when a death toll of 10 followed a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train on a sharp curve near Williams river….” (Brattleboro Daily Reformer, VT. “Recover Body of Dead Engineer.” 3-17-1920, p. 1.)

Sources

Bennington Evening Banner, VT. “Eight Killed in Wreck Near Bellows Falls.” 3-15-1920, p. 1. Accessed 5-30-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bennington-evening-banner-mar-15-1920-p-1/

Brattleboro Daily Reformer, VT. “Recover Body of Dead Engineer.” 3-17-1920, p. 1. Accessed 5-30-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-brattleboro-daily-reformer-mar-17-1920-p-1/

United States Interstate Commerce Commission. Summary of Accident Investigation Reports No. 3, January, February, and March 1920. Washington, DC: GPO, 1920. Google digitized. Accessed 5-30-2025 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=c3zNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false