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...

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.

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.

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!

Material Collected as of 1/20/09

The following, in no particular order, is a list of the materials I have collected thus far.

1) Many, many copies from microfilms of contemporary newspapers.
2) A stack of indictments and personal effects collected from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
3) A stack of copies of the paper work from the FBI (thanks to the Freedom of Information Act).
4) Copy and transcript of the ICC report.
5) Photo of Joseph Fitzsimmons.
6) Fitzsimmons' obituaries.
7) Pension records for Fitzsimmons and Conductor John Bishop.
8) Interviewed John Applegate, retired PRR engineer who had been a fireman for Fitzsimmons prior to the accident (audio tapes).

The Author

I first became aware of the train wreck in Woodbridge in 2001, when Frank LaPenta was organizing a 50th anniversary memorial. Frank and I were members of the Historical Association of Woodbridge Township and he had been among the first on the scene after the accident - he still clearly remembers seeing a dead body on the embankment. I was working as a graphic artist at a print shop in town and offered to help create the program for the memorial service he planned for the Methodist Church on Main Street, a block from the scene. They had opened their doors to victims and weary rescuers. A phone bank had been brought in to handle the calls of worried families.

I decided to include a list of the dead and spent hours scrolling through the microfilm reels of period newspapers at Rutgers University's Alexander Library in New Brunswick. The basic human drama of a disaster and the selflessness of the rescuers who descended in droves was captivating. Then came the investigations and questions about what exactly happened and why.

At the time, I was also working on my first book, "James Parker: A Printer on the Eve of Revolution" about the man who established New Jersey's first print shop. Parker (1714-1770), a Woodbridge native, worked in the pre-Revolutionary period when "the press" was evolving from meaning just the apparatus one printed with to journalism. For more information about this book, please visit www.CommonBondHistorians.com

The process of researching and writing was one I so enjoyed that I realized at long last, albeit at middle age, what I wanted to do when I grew up! Before my first book was even done, I knew there would be more in my life and the train wreck emerged as the subject for my next efforts.

Writing is not a completely new activity for me. One of my other major interests has been amateur astronomy. I have written for a variety of magazines and journals and even published my own, The Practical Observer, for twelve years. These days, I have started a new, free, online magazine dedicated to New Jersey history, Garden State Legacy - see: www.GardenStateLegacy.com

Just as writing the Parker biography required me to immerse myself in 18th century pre-Revolution politics and culture, The Broker requires me to immerse myself in the railroad culture of the first half of the 20th century. I have begun a reading list to give myself a better grounding, but a major function of this blog is to invite railroad historians to share their knowledge and experience.

In a future posting, I will summarize the information I have collected to date.

The Wreck of The Broker: The Basic Story

For those unfamiliar with the wreck of The Broker, here’s the basics of the story. On the drizzly evening of February 6, 1951, the Pennsylvania Railroad commuter train known as “The Broker” left Jersey City for its express run down the Jersey shore to Bay Head Junction. The nickname came from the fact many of the commuters who took that train worked on Wall Street in Manhattan. The cars were extra packed this night. A switchmen’s strike on the Jersey Central line caused many to squeeze onto The Broker instead.

Just south of the Woodbridge, NJ station,the New Jersey Turnpike was under construction, necessitating a new train bridge, as the highway passed under the rails, which were atop an embankment through the town. To allow the construction to proceed without impeding the busy commuter lines, a temporary track was laid, parallel to the main line where the work was being done. This required a temporary wooden trestle next to the normal bridge over Legion Place. It was here, just south of the station and Main Street and immediately north of the Turnpike construction site, that the trains would make the tight turn onto the temporary track.

The temporary track had opened at 1:00 pm that day and several trains passed through without problem (the exact number seems in dispute). They were to slow down to 25 miles per hour to negotiate the curve and pass through the construction zone. Train crews that day were supposed to be alerted to the change in track and the go-slow order via a notice board and signing off that they had read notices pertaining to their run.

According to later investigations, The Broker (which did not stop at Woodbridge) hit that curve going around 50 miles per hour. It derailed, sending cars tumbling down the embankment onto Fulton Street. 84 passengers were killed as well as the fireman. It stands as the worse railway disaster in New Jersey history and the fourth worse in the U.S.

The engineer at the throttle of the K4 steam locomotive, Joseph Fitzsimmons, was an old hand and many who knew him respected his skill and experience. Why he didn’t slow down has been the subject of much debate ever since. The PRR blamed him solely. Having survived the wreck, he claimed he was looking for the yellow lights that would have signaled the go-slow area. There were none and it is not clear if there should have been (this is something I need to research).The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office, however, blamed the PRR for not having adequate signals. Assistant Prosecutor, Alexander Eber, took umbrage that the mighty PRR appeared to him to be scapegoating Fitzsimmons. He brought 85 counts of manslaughter against them, but when trying the cases would evidently bankrupt the state, there was an out of court settlement.

There was a tremendous outpouring of help after the accident as emergency squads and citizens descended on the scene to pull survivors out of the wreckage. The stories from that night are amazing human dramas that few would ever forget.

In future postings, I will talk more about how I came to know of the wreck and become interested in telling the story, as well as what progress has already been made in researching it.