Sadly, fifty years ago this month, 6 railroaders on the New York Central lost their lives in a collision on the West Side Freight Line in upper Manhattan.
http://www.lohud.com/story/new...alley-men/332834001/
I've been fascinated with this story for many years as I became friends with the wife of a railroad conductor who was involved in training railroad personnel after this tragic accident. She passed onto me some items from his years in railroading including a thick binder of information related to the accident including pictures of the wreck, the final report and his safety career. Loyal "Buddy" Reynolds, was also known as "Buddy of the Budd Cars" for his many years of service as Conductor operating along the Upper Hudson in RDC cars. Buddy was very well respected for his years of service and trained many other railroad workers as his employment ran from the New York Central to Metro-North (along with the MTA, Penn Central and Conrail). Upon release of the official report Buddy was appointed as a Safety Supervisor training and reinforcing the importance of following all rules in order to prevent similar accidents going forward.
One of the findings in the final report included reconciling the fact that rules needed to be adhered to...I believe part of this was related to railroad personnel which were in one of the towers who should not have been and may have distracted the tower operator.
Tom
Below, Buddy Reynolds upon his retirement from Metro-North is seen second from left with his award and then-President of Metro-North, Peter Stangl is third from the left.
