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»rFog* 8RUNAWAY TRAIN PASSENGERS ORDERLYSPOKANE, Wash,, Jan. 30,—£V~ j of slightly more than 15 miles an More than 200 frightened but or- i hour on the downhill run. Estimates dertv passenger* sal quietly in a ; of passengers and others ran up disabled streamlined train Sunday to 30 miles an hour and mote, night as it rolled backward down I Fanned by the wind as the train a hill in Central Washington, 1 rolled backward through the night,A fire in the electric engine ofj the engine was burning brightlythe Milwaukee Railroad* crack « the train rolled to a halt on the Hiawatha Streamliner stalled the western side of Kittitas. Fire deeast of Kittitas Thetrain on a hillswiftly rolling train was brought to a halt by crew members and passengers who helped apply manual brakes on each car after the air brakes failedThe only injuries were received by the engineer and fireman Both were slightly affected by gas fumes as they fought the fire.Engineer Edward Maxwell, fH, of Spokane estimated the train rolled about three miles dragging its dead engine. He and Fireman Dick Liberty, 30, of Spokane were driven from the cab by gas fumes as it glided slowly away. Maxwell estimated the train reachec a speedCalifornia Winer\/partments from Kittitas and Ellens-burg snuffed out the blaze. Maxwell said he spotted the blaze as the train climbed up the hill. He rut the power and braked the trainto a stop as quickly as he could, While it was still roll ng he and Liberty attacked the fire with extinguisher*.The gas from the fir* and extinguishers drove us back ' Liberty nd We used five extinguisher* and started throwing snow on therf*Flames Kill OneCUCAMONGA, Calif-, Jan. 30-(fP)—Firemrn stood knee deep in wine Monday to fight a fire that killed one man and caused damage estimated at $1 million to the Pioneer Vineyard Association.Firefighter* h* ard the screams of Thomas B Wyllie, 49, from a flaming storage building but they were j unable to reach him.Wyllie'* body wa* found later inside one of the 40,000 gallon vats, Firemen said he evidently climbed atop the wooden structure to escape the flames and then fell in when the super-heated liquid exploded and blow the top off the tank.j Wyllie was one of five men on duty in the storage area that covered an acre of closely packed vats Or4 *r* prevented hi* wife Mable,fr.«, ushing into the flames whenshe .earned her husband was inside.About 75 vat* exploded. One blast shook window* more than a mile away.We must have fought the fire for two hours before the brakes failed, Maxwell said I gut caught in the ifab I couldn t see anything I just j; hold my nose and finally got to avindow We were gassed, :Then the train started to rolllowly a« the *jr holding the brakes leaked away. The light* were out ! and the engine empty a* the trainmoved away.' There was nothing we could do, said Liberty, No brakes, no power, no lights We couldn t stay there.Maxwell was coughing badly and holding a handkerchief to hisblackened far*- as he told how they piled snow onto the ourning engine.George Harri* a pullman car porter said the pai- engers he saw knew what was going onThey were frightened all right. But there wasn't anyone hysterical,” Harris said. There wasn’t much ’alking either. Some of them looked out the windows once in awhile, but not for very longHow far did I thinkbackward I don't reallyit seemed like 20 mileswe went know butArt aIVi-nrI I/:
Newspaper Details
Austin American Stateman
Austin, Texas, US
Tue, Jan 31, 1950
Page 8
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 31 Jan 2023
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