July 1925 Crawford Notch NH MEC Mtn Div Line Near Frankinstein Trestle. The hogger lived long enough to provide rescue crew details of events right up to the Explosion. Throat Sheet at Mud Ring /Furnace Bearer Suppoprt area failed. Debris still burning near rails. Solid wheels on front truck, S/Heaters. Walcherts Valve Gear were capitol improvements made by MEC in early 1920s Surviving sister #501 located at Conway Scenic RR, N.Conway NH. Examination of evidence strewn out in nearby woods, compared to same on #501 indicated heavy steel components such as underwent severe distortion that otherwise can only be obtained by extreme mechanical force or heating using Oxy/Cet.Torches to facilitate shaping. force of blast lifted the locomotive off of tracks,reversed it,s direction of travel, tore down telegraph wires and landed upside down on embankment forcing cab roof into the ground and then boiler slid a short distance into trees. The heat from explosion and flashing of water to steam damaged foliage thus created a moon like surface as ballast, coal, cinders, and underlying roadbed were mixed with water and steam forming a crusty mud coating. Wrecking Crew had not arrived yet and where the items landed is where you curently view them. The tender took a ride into the air as well. Bartlett, NH Railroad Yard Service Facility is just a few miles east of explosion thus would allow topping off fuel and water. LOW WATER WAS NOT CAUSE! No other cars were derailed. Two Locomotives were on each end and #505 cut into the middle. Complaints by the crew of #505 that day that the throttle felt mushy,somthing is wrong after leaving Rigby Yard in Portland, Maine were answered by company statements, " All is fine, proceed as ordered, don,t worry nothing,s wrong....... BOOOM!!! Yeah Right! The Maine CentralRailroad knew more than they admitted knowing as the wrecked engine was quickly disposed of before the ICC could investigate. Many company documents were seemingly lost all of a sudden. As with just about all Boiler Explosions the crew in the locomotive cab rarely lives to talk about it. The Engineer in this particular case did lots of talking and spilled the beans on the Railroad Brass and their Don,t worry about it B... S... story. The family of the Talking Engineer was sued by Maine Central Railroad for some foolish purpose , evidently a feeble attempt to hush them from talking about the wreck. When it went to court it was thrown out. The deceased hoggers surviving kin provided me with details. After hearing the tale and stor about the MEC sending hordes of men into the adjacent wood to pick up every piece of metal from the wreck and get rid of it into the scrap car , the familys story makes a lot of sense. The Hogger of the #505 lived for about an hour after the explosion,back in 1927 there were no such thing as Helicopter Med Flights, Two Way Radio or 911. Gettig word out of a train wreck in such a remote isolated area with the telegraph lines in a shambles must have been a tall order to fill. What was left of the Westbound Freight continued on in an effort to clear the scene for help which would be comming from Bartlett, NH;. just a few miles away. I am happy to have learned that although this needless tragedy could have been prevented if MEC Brass were not so ignorant of the crews repeated wires to Rgby Yard at various point along the way to Bartlett about the " somthing seems wrong " complaint. At least the BRAVE ENGINEER didn,t die alone and if I were in a similar scenario would have stayed there tying to comfort hin as others tried to summons help for the dying engineer.
