Saturday, May 9, 2009

Time!

It's been a while since I've added to this blog, but I was distracted by some personal developments. One was my wedding to Stephanie on April 4th and the other was being laid off from my job the week after we returned from honeymoon!

Well, at least I now have more time to devote to the book! On May 5, 2009, I had the opportunity to interview Cathleen McCormack, who was a young nurse, fresh out of school, at the hospital in Perth Amboy, NJ where they took the injured from the wreck. She had many interesting stories of her experiences that day. I have also been in regular contact with Kelly Cooper from Virginia, whose grandfather had perished in the wreck. She has been getting the details from her mother. I still have another gentleman to follow up with who knew Joe Fitzsimmons as well.

Trying to view the loss of my job as a positive, I now have the time to pursue these leads!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Blame

In some respects, this is a difficult book to write. Aside from dealing with people's painful memories, there is the aspect of "blame." Something went terribly wrong that night, costing 85 people their lives and injuring hundreds more. It was an accident, but someone did something wrong to cause it - at the very least, as far as my research thus far shows, the engineer was going too fast, looking for signals that were not there and may have been confused as to where he was and whose rules he was operating under. But added to this is the question of who decided not to put up the yellow signal that would have made all the difference?

Whenever something like this happens, we want someone to blame - often, someone to sue. Yet I find myself shying away from using the word "blame" when it comes to engineer Joe Fitzsimmons. There's a connotation of a degree of gross negligence that I have not found. Was he "responsible" for what happened? Yes - his actions and decisions contributed towards the wreck. But there's not evidence to date that he was doing anything "negligent." He didn't show up for work drunk, for example. He made a mistake - we all do. Unfortunately, the consequences of his mistake were great.

It's also difficult because he, like many other key players, are long since dead and cannot defend themselves. Nevertheless, this is a story that should be told and told as honestly as possible. My point is to neither vilify nor excuse. It is my hope that perhaps my work might give some sense of closure for families who still feel the emotional impacts of that night.

Among them is Kelly C. from Virginia whose grandfather was among those killed. She was born after the event, but her family has obviously been effected by the loss and she has done research herself into the circumstances. I asked her about Fitzsimmons, trying to get at how the family felt about him. Her answer was interesting and a lesson in forgiveness:

This poor man and his family had to live with this ordeal every single day, people pointing the finger at him. How terrible a feeling of guilt that he lived with even though he did everything to ensure the safety of the situation. I really wanted to find his family and give them some sort of comfort in the fact that my family held no ill-will towards him - it was an accident - the whole thing was in God's hands, as every act is. I just wanted to tell him that he is not to blame, he was made the fall-guy and what a damn shame [the PRR] could not fess up to the fact that they made the dreadful mistake.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Slipping From Our Grasp

Ms. Helen Pike (http://helenpike.com/index.htm) was kind enough to send me a copy of an obituary of Doris J. Wright from The Asbury Park Press. She passed away February 3rd just two weeks shy of her 90th birthday. Ms. Pike sent this because of this passage...

For over 30 years, Doris commuted to work on Wall Street, New York for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. It was during one of her commutes home in 1951 that Doris survived one of the worst train wrecks in American history in Woodbridge, where 82 people died. She sustained severe injuries, including a broken back, but was able to make a full recovery.

The main characters of this story - Joe Fitzsimmons, John Bishop, Alexander Eber, Paul Triplett - are all gone. Each year, another group of survivors and rescuers pass away. The wreck of The Broker is one of those events on the cusp of slipping into history.

This is a book that needs to be written soon, before the firsthand experiences of survivors and rescuers slip from our grasp.


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Mixed Signals [Part 2]

I have been receiving some excellent information with regards to the questions I raised about the status of the signals the night of the wreck. It would appear that while the PRR overall had a rule in place requiring a temporary yellow signal before a restricted area of track, the New York Division was not following it. According to the New York Times for February 8, 1951, "The authorities said that their investigation indicated no caution signal had been included in the spur set-up." Further, there was a question as to who gave permission for the construction without a warning signal.

I will be exploring the signal question closer...

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Joseph Fitzsimmons


I'm not a superstitious man, but I almost feel that The Broker's engineer, Joseph Fitzsimmons, is smiling on this project to tell the truth about what really happened that terrible night. I have a search saved on eBay for materials relating to the Pennsylvania Railroad in case there's anything relevant to my book. The other evening, I signed on and checked those search results. What should I see with literally 32 seconds left in the auction but a print of Joeseph Fitzsimmons from the estate of the noted rail historian and photographer, Don Wood! I knew this image existed and had a scan of it from a book, sent to me by Joel Rosenbaum - but this was a print from the negative!

It is said that this picture was taken earlier in the day of the wreck.

Needless to say, I immediately bid on it and since I was the only one, I won it. It's almost as if I was meant to have it. It arrived yesterday and I paused for some time looking at Joe - this was a luxury I didn't have when I wrote about the colonial era printer, James Parker. I had no images of him. Seeing Joe Fitzsimmons reinforced the fact that I'm dealing with a real person's story.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mixed Signals

A major factor in this mystery is the situation of the signals. Here's a quick rundown of the theories I have heard from various sources...
  • So long as there was time for the go-slow order to be posted on the notice board for train crews coming on duty, the PRR did not have to have yellow lights or flags at the site.
  • the PRR rule No. 701 required a yellow light or flag at a restricted area - which would have been too late for The Broker to slow down. The CNJ, by contrast, had the same rule but added one requiring the signal be placed at least 4,000 feet in advance of the restriction.
  • The PRR had a rule that yellow signals were required on all go-slow areas regardless, but the NY Division never bothered to follow it, or at least didn't in this instance.
  • That the line from Jersey City to Bay Head was divided between the PRR and another railroad to the south - the second railroad required yellow signals, but the PRR didn't and Fitzsimmons somehow forgot under whose rules he was operating and was looking for yellow lights as if he were under the other railroad's rules (he is quoted in contemporary articles as having said he was indeed searching in vain for yellow lights prior to the accident).
  • That in addition to no signals at the construction site, the regular permanent signal showed as clear, not slow, further adding to the confusion over just where the go-slow area was.
One thing which troubles me is that even in the absence of yellow signals, assuming Fitzsimmons remembered that there was a go-slow area just south of the Woodbridge train station, he should have known where he was by virtue of passing that station. Granted, it was night and on the left side of his train - and being an express, he didn't stop there. But it would have been lit up and seems hard to miss. Everything I have read or heard from people who worked with Fitzsimmons considered him an excellent engineer. That's not to say that a moment's lapse couldn't have happened, of course. But it seems difficult to understand.

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Note About Postings By Others

I am beginning to issue invitations to folks to join this blog, so now might be a good time to make a statement regarding how comments by others might be used.

In general, assume that anything you post may be quoted (with proper attribution) or otherwise incorporated in the book I'm working on. If you do not wish to comment "on the record," please make sure this is clear in your post or else contact me directly in a private email: cbhistorians@yahoo.com

Keep in mind that anything posted will be publicly visible. For the record, it is understood that I am unable to compensate anyone for their information beyond crediting them in the resulting book.

It might be a good idea for posters to identify themselves in order to establish credibility when offering information.

And, obviously, the common sense rules of civility apply and I reserve the right to ban anyone who abuses this forum.

Now that this stuff is out of the way, let the interactions begin!