HOME | DD

jadebullet — The Ghost of engine 8841 by-nc-nd

Published: 2009-02-18 04:09:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 1539; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 12
Redirect to original
Description November, 1943, Mayburry Vermont. One of the dark marks on the town of Mayburry's history. An NYC express train led by engine 8841 was heading into the town at about 45mph during a very severe thunderstorm. About a half a mile before it reached Mayburry yard, the train had to cross a small wooden bridge across White's creek. Unfortunately, the flooded stream had washed out the bridge. In the dark, the engineer saw the washout too late as his engine steamed out of the tunnel. At 10:52pm, the sound of crushing and twisting metal was heard in the town of Mayburry. The locomotive left the track at 45mph and plunged into the streambed. Three of the loaded Pullman passenger cars piled into the creek behind the locomotive, pushing it up the embankment, before it rolled back down into the water. The other six Pullman coaches buckled, and left the tracks, taking out several trees, with two of them, ending up on their sides.

When the first of the emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found a pile of twisted passenger cars, spilled coal, and the twisted form that was engine 8841 spewing steam from its many wounds, and boiling the water which she sat in. Rescue crews worked hard into the night, and by the light of the next morning, 34 people had died, including the engineer and fireman, along with almost triple that wounded.

The line at the site of the crash was severely damaged, and the Boston and Maine, which owned the trackage rights, decided to close the line that lead through the tunnel, opting instead to lay track around the end of the mountain, which would allow for better visibility in the event of a wash out. About a month later, the Mayburry Gravel Company, having exhausted its gravel pit at the time, decided to buy the old mainline from the B&M along with the land around the tunnel for use as a gravel pit. They repaired the area of the wreck, replacing the track and the bridge, and thus saved the old mainline from becoming scrap. Another thing that came out of the tragedy was the emplacement of a 10mph speed limit on approach to and while crossing bridges on the mainline, as well as on the newly bought gravel rail line.

On November 5th, 1948, the 5th anniversary of the wreck, a memorial was erected in Mayburry, in remembrance of the 34 people who lost their lives that tragic night.

Local ghost myths claim that the site of the accident is haunted, and that on stormy nights, you can hear the haunting moan of engine 8841's whistle as it approaches its demise. Some that have heard it swear that it is the doomed trains whistle, while the more skeptical say that all that they heard was the wind, though you can see in their eyes that they don't really believe that.

This is just a preliminary shot. I might do more to it later.
Related content
Comments: 5

Noble-Six-rulez [2013-07-29 12:07:17 +0000 UTC]

I almost wiki'd it

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

RailroadNutjob [2012-09-14 18:30:19 +0000 UTC]

Dang... now that's quite a ghost story.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

SAPHIRARACER [2012-08-31 18:57:57 +0000 UTC]

Dang

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Enterprise206 [2010-09-23 14:00:18 +0000 UTC]

is this tragic story true?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

jadebullet In reply to Enterprise206 [2010-10-14 21:32:03 +0000 UTC]

Nope, completely made up.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0