THE GEOCACHE
This is one of 20 historical caches along the Butler Freeport Community Trail, formerly the Butler Branch of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad.
THE GEOCOIN
Inside each BFTHGT cache container is a QR CODE and trackable number. Scanning the code will open a trackable page. Visitors discovering AT LEAST 15 of the 20 trackables are eligible to claim a BFTHGT commemorative trackable geocoin. To get your coin, visit:
http://www.butlerfreeporttrail.org/on-the-butler-freeport-community-trail/geocaching/
On August 16, 1889, according to newspaper reports, another serious accident occurred on the Butler Branch.
“The south-bound passenger train on the Butler Branch of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad which left Butler, Pa. at 2:35 o’clock this afternoon jumped the track on mile west of Sarver’s Station. The entire train with two passenger coaches and a combination smoking and baggage car went over an embankment causing a total loss of equipment and three lives outright. The wreck resulted in the deaths of William J. Powers of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Duff an old lady and Katie a four-year old child of Mrs. M. Farrell of Butler. The injuries amounted to 24 people among whom were George Spang, Mrs. David Gosser, Mrs. Graff, Mrs. Helen McJunkin and Brakeman Karns (broken back) all of Butler County. Non-Butler County folks injured seriously in the accident were: Ex-Mayor Lyon of Pittsburgh seriously in shoulder; Captain Lower of Pittsburgh head badly cut; D.A. Jones and wife of Pittsburgh seriously hurt and bruised; J.A. McLaughlin of Pittsburgh fatally injured; Conductor Joseph Gray of Pittsburgh serious internal injuries; Captain Grace of Jamestown, NY painfully injured. About fifteen others were more or less injured. The accident was caused by the spreading of the rails on a small bridge. The rails were on stringers, which had rotted with time and long service. The engine passed over the bridge safely, but the first car was derailed and plunged down into the abyss, some thirty feet below. “
Charles Demski told this story about wrecks in 1919/1920 during an oral interview for “Buffalo Township Oral Interview.
“It was May 28, 1919 when I came home from the army. I loafed around a couple of weeks looking around for a job, but all the jobs were taken. I couldn’t see anything open so I went back braking on the railroad – freight brakeman. It was a heavy winter in 1919. In the spring before it thawed out, there were wrecks and wrecks. One time coming home from Johnstown, I went out of the caboose headfirst through a window and I got my face cut. A brake rod on the car dropped down and threw the car off track and cut the air hose. See, when an air hose on a 100 car train was cut, why. The slack would come up ker-sock!”
Some lesser accidents in terms of human life happened at Herman Station. In 1943 a freight train jumped the track at Herman Station, narrowly missing the Dittmer Store. Eyewitness to this train wreck said the sound of the crash and the excess steam caused everyone to come running to the Herman Station. There was little damage to the track, and no one was injured or killed. The sustained damage was to the freight cars and the freight inside them.
In 1958, another accident happened at Summit Hill Siding while the train passed through the Summit Cut. The Summit Cut was the highest elevation along the Butler Branch and often caused couplings to break. However, once the heavy ore required by U.S. Steel Corporation to make sinter at its plant in Clinton Township began to pass over the Butler Branch, accidents began to happen. In 1958 at Summit Hill siding a train filled with ore left the tracks spilling ore everywhere. These ore cars carried 100 tons of ore each, a full train requiring three diesels in the front, three diesels in the middle and three diesels in the back to move these cars over the Summit Cut. This accident saw ten ore cars spill 1000 tons of Venezuelan ore all along the Summit Hill Siding.