Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 2-8-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–6 Interstate Commerce Commission, File 1539, Corning, NY, October 21, 1929.

Narrative Information

Interstate Commerce Commission: “On July 11, 1929, there was a derailment of a freight train, the wreckage of which was struck by a passenger train, on the Erie Railroad near Corning, N. Y. which resulted in the death of 2 employees, 2 mail clerks, and 2 trespassers, and the injury of 51 passengers, 9 employees, one of whom was deadheading, was made in conjunction with a representative of the Public Service Commission of New York….

“This accident occurred on…the Susquehanna Division… The point of accident is approximately 2 1/2 miles east of the station at Corning….the accident occurring on…[a] curve…The weather was slightly hazy at the time of the accident, which occurred at 12.43 a.m.

“Westbound. freight train extra 3352, running as train second No. 91, consisted of 128 cars and 2 cabooses, hauled by engine 3352, and was in charge of Conductor Green and Engineman Salmer. This train passed Chemung Junction, 13:4 miles east of Corning at 12.25 a. m., according to the train sheet, and was approaching Corning when it was derailed by a broken rail while traveling at a speed estimated to have been between 35 and 40 miles per hour.

“Eastbound passenger train No. 6 consisted of one express car, one mail car, one baggage car, one coach, one dining car, four Pullman cars and one coach, in the order named, hauled by engine 2917, and was in charge of Conductor Kinne and Engineman Plaice. The cars were of’ all steel construction with the exception of the first and fifth cars, which were of steel-underframe construction. This train departed from Corning at 12.39 a.m., two minutes late, and collided with the wreckage of extra 3352 which had fouled the eastbound track while traveling at a speed estimated to have been between 45 and 43 miles per hour.

“The first, second, sixth and eighth cars of extra 3352 were derailed, the first car coming to rest about 1,600 feet from the initial point of derailment; the ninth to the thirty-third cars, inclusive, five of which contained gasoline, were badly damaged or burned up, the twenty-fourth car, which was one of the cars containing gasoline, fouled the eastbound main track, while three cars in the rear of the train buckled and fouled both tracks. Engine 2917 collided with the derailed twenty-fourth car of the freight train and cane to rest on the passing track parallel with the main tracks; the first four cars in train No. 6 were badly damaged and immediately caught fire from the wrecked cars loaded with gasoline in extra 3352. The front truck of the fifth car was also derailed and the front end of the car burned; the remaining equipment in train No. 6, was not derailed. The employees killed were the engineman and fireman of’ train No. 6, and those injured were the baggage-man and six dining car employees of train No. 6 and the conductor of extra 3352….

“The investigation indicated that this accident was caused by a broken rail….the fractured head, prior to the accident, was of unusual extent, believed to have covered a length of rail not less than ten -feet. Since fractures of this kind are discoverable when displayed to the extent witnessed in this rail, and also of very much less degree, the contention that the fracture was not discoverable prior to the accident is not supported by the evidence presented.” (Interstate Commerce Commission, File 1539, Corning, NY, October 21, 1929.)

Newspapers

July 11, INS: “Passenger Train Runs Into Freight, Flames Following…

“Corning, N.Y., July 11. (INS) – Five men were killed outright and another died shortly after in the crash here today of a derailed eastbound Erie freight train and passenger train number 6 from Cleveland. Three cars of the passenger train caught fire and were burned.

“The dead are Engineer F. E. Blake, of Hornell; Fireman W. J. Latonic, of Susquehanna, Pa., and Mail Clerks P. A. Fagan, of Salamanca and H. M. Hurlbert, of Lockport, and two trams riding the freight train.

“The baggage, express and mail cars of the east-bound passenger train caught fire and were destroyed.

“Officials of the railroad declared the fire resulted when tank cars on the freight train overturned after it left the rails.

“A number of ambulances with doctors and nurses were rushed to the scene to render first aid treatment.

“The wreck occurred on a stretch of through track two miles east of here. The freight, carrying more than 40 cars, was proceeding on the west bound track when it crashed into some obstacles, derailing a score of cars. Amid this debris the bodies of the two hoboes still remained. One of the tramps was subsequently identified as Swan Berger, 38, of Moline, Ill.

“Train number 6, which had left Cleveland for New York yesterday was going 45 miles an hour when it crashed into the wreckage which had been strewn along the eastbound tracks. The locomotive was hurled on it’s side, and the mail car crushed. The other burned cars likewise were upturned and the victims had no chance to escape. Officials of the Erie believed that they had been killed instantly. None of the 75 passengers was seriously injured, the sleepers remaining on the rails….” (INS. “6 Dead, 5 Killed Outright, Erie Collision at Corning.” Olean Evening Times, NY. 7-11-1929, p. 1.)

Sources

INS (International News Service). “6 Dead, 5 Killed Outright, Erie Collision at Corning.” Olean Evening Times, NY. 7-11-1929, p. 1. Accessed 2-8-2025 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/olean-times-jul-11-1929-p-1/

United States Interstate Commerce Commission, File No. 1539. “Report of the Director of the Bureau of Safety in RE Investigation of an Accident Which Occurred on the Erie Railroad near Corning, N.Y., on July 11, 1929.” Washington, DC: ICC, October 21, 1929. Reproduced by DOT Library, Special Collections, I.C.C. Historical Railroad Investigation Reports (1911-1994). Accessed at: http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/

Also accessed 2-8-2025 at: file:///C:/Users/Wayne/Downloads/dot_47496_DS1-1.pdf

1929 — July 11, freight train derails/hit by passenger train, Erie RR, near Corning, NY– 6