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On 18 January 1996 a Yard & Hill job went about its usual chores of weighing and sorting cars brought
from Burney the day before as well as other switching duties in the yard. The two man train crew
consisted of engineer Michael Zetocha and conductor Dale Bran. After completing switching in McCloud
the crew performed the required air test and set out for Mt. Shasta City with an 11-car train consisting of
10 loads of lumber and woodchips, one empty Ventura County Railway boxcar that had come to the McCloud shop
for some work, and a caboose. All went well until the
train started down the west side of the mountain, with the locomotives controlling the downhill movement
from the uphill side of the train through the use of dynamic brakes. Somewhere on the hill the units
somehow slipped out of dynamic brakes and the train started racing down the hill. The engineer tried
several brake applications without any effect. The runaway train left the rails on a 15-degree curve
at a speed of 37 miles per hour near the old site of Howard. All 11 revenue cars and locomotive #38 left
the rails; the caboose broke free of the train and rolled downhill for another two miles before coming
to a stop. Dale rode the caboose the whole way and tied down the handbrakes to no avail; the caboose lifted
one side completely off the rails in a few spots but managed to stay upright until it stopped, probably due
in large part to the trucks being chained to the frame. The wreck caused an estimated $4,000 worth of damage to the track
and $139,872 worth of equipment damage. The railroad re-railed the #38 and took it to McCloud for repairs;
the cars were pushed the cars off to the side of the track, where
they stayed until the following spring when melted snow finally allowed the railroad to clean up the wreck.
Travis Berryman took these photos the day after the wreck. All are used here with permission.
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