Bainbridge NY Train Wreck - January 1966

Train Runs Wild in Bainbridge

The Sidney Record & Bainbridge News, January 12, 1966

 

 

Overhead view of Train Derailment, Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY

 

Cars on top of each other created a horrible mess at the West Main Street crossing.  The photograph was taken looking toward Railroad Avenue  (R-N photo)

Delello  home at 8 West Main Street, Bainbridge, was shattered by the railroad cars which smashed through the house and the home soon caught fire.  Firemen (center) are attempting to contain the blaze.  The fire station, which was once the Village Hall, is on the right  (R-N photo)

Mrs. Alice Johnson was practically unable to move when she was pinned in this automobile by the freight car shown on top of her vehicle.  Dexheimers of Guilford, a firm that specialized in moving houses, was called to the scene and they raised the freight car so that the automobile could be freed.  Workers of the Bainbridge emergency Squad are shown on the right.  Mrs. Johnson was pinned in the car for 2 hours and 5 minutes, but miraculously she suffered only minor injuries.  (R-N Photo)

 

Flammable Cargo was contained in many of the railroad freight cars, also many of the cars were constructed of wood and were themselves flammable.  A car containing newsprint created a special hazard when winds carried the sparks over the roofs of many homes.

 

Extracts from an article written shortly following the derailment

(Sidney Record & Bainbridge News, January 12, 1966)

 

Bainbridge:  Tragedy struck in the Village of Bainbridge on Friday evening at 6:35 when a northbound D&H freight train jumped the tracks in the heart of Bainbridge.  A total of 42 cars were derailed from the 64-car freight train.

 

The freight cars smashed through the home of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Delello, Sr., at 8 West Main Street and the couple was killed instantly....The Delello home was completely smashed apart. The Emergency Squad and others arrived on the scene almost immediately. Within a very few minutes a serious fire was raging both in the Delello home and in the wreckage of the train.

 

Mrs. Alice Johnson was pinned in her car--she had been waiting for the train to clear the crossing and when the derailment occurred one of the freight cars landed on top of her automobile.  At first it appeared that she was almost certainly crushed to death in the car.  Dexheimer's house moving crew was summoned and when they arrived they were able to jack up the freight car so the automobile could be moved and Mrs. Johnson could be released.....

 

The freight cars, evidently with one car riding on top of another, crashed through the Bainbridge Fire Station and inflicted severe damage on the part of the building used for storage of fire department vehicles....

 

The worst of the fire was in the Delello house and the wrecked freight cars in that area behind the fire house. Beams and debris were moved to enable the firemen to back the fire trucks out of the station.  Their fire fighting task was made especially difficult because water was in short supply--the electricity was out at the pump stations for the first 35 minutes of the fire and the only water pressure available was from the reservoirs.  In addition the water standpipe in the fire station had been knocked out by the freight cars.

 

Firemen immediately concentrated their efforts on the dangerous task of keeping two LP gas tanks cool.  Each of those large tanks contained 33,000 gallons of liquefied propane gas and the danger of explosion was a constant possibility.  The firemen directed their water onto these tanks in an effort to keep them from exploding....Thomas F. Curry, supervisor of the U.S. Bureau of Mines office in Albany, was summoned to help in dealing with possible explosion threats. He stated that through proper handling of the emergency the danger of explosion had been held to a minimum. An explosion of these LP gas tanks could have damaged an area of one-half mile radius.

 

A tank car containing 20,000 gallons of naphtha leaked and fed the fire.  Some of this naphtha was washed away by the water and found its way into the basements of Jerry's Inn and Demeree's Chevrolet Sales.  The United States Bureau of Mines furnished special meters which were used to measure to threat of explosion from naphtha fumes in these buildings....

 

The Bainbridge firemen battled the fire all Friday night and all day Saturday until 7:00 p.m. when they pulled their last hose line.  A standby detail was maintained for a longer time.  Many of the firemen fought the fire for 18 hours straight without rest....

 

F.A. (Mike) Demeree said he was in the automotive showroom when he herd the crash.  "I dashed into the street and when I saw the train wreck it looked like we might have lost our fire department.  I telephoned the Sidney Fire Department immediately."  Mrs. Reno Smith called the Sidney Fire Department and the Afton Fire Department.  She also telephoned individual firemen (The Bainbridge siren was destroyed).  Oneonta and Norwich helped by supplying additional fire fighting foam and other supplies and some of their men came to Bainbridge to help fight the blaze.

 

Firemen courageously battled the flames that lapped the sides of the LP gas tankers.  These 30,000 gallon tankers could have had the explosive force of small bombs. The Bainbridge firemen knew the risks they were taking by standing in close to those tanks to get their water where it could cool the tanks and reduce the danger of explosion.  The knowledge that these firemen had of how to deal with the LP explosion hazard, and their courage in fighting this dangerous fire, may have saved the village of Bainbridge from a true disaster.....