Wickenburg Sun (Wickenburg, Arizona)
Friday, August 15, 1952, p. 1
A Close Race; Death Won
[photo]
Another Fatality On Highway 71.
Sleeping Relief Driver Killed As Truck Crashes Into Train
"Frenchy" Nichols of Phoenix was the engineer at the controls of a diesel locomotive pulling the Santa Fe passenger train down from Ash Fork early last Sunday morning. Nearing Congress and the grade crossing on Highway 71--the ill-fated "cut-off" between Aguila and Highway 89--Engineer Nichols saw a big semi-trailer headed north on 71 and rapidly approaching the railroad crossing. He bore down on the locomotive whistle but realized, instinctively, that a collision was inevitable.
"I just shut my eyes and waited for the crash," he told Highway Patrolman George Pemberton and others later. It came--at exactly 6:10 a.m. The truck struck the diesel four and one-half feet forward of the rear end of the first section. The engine and five of the six cars it was pulling left the track on a wide curve, dug into the right -of-way and came to a stop at a sharp angle, but none overturned. The last coach on the train, a sleeping car, stopped on the crossing and remained on the tracks.
Killed Instantly
The crash almost completely destroyed the tractor but the trailer behind it suffered slight damage. Killed was Truitt P. Morgan, 28-year-old resident of Pomona, Calif., relief driver who is believed to have been asleep in the sleeping compartment of the cab. His body, said Patrolman Pemberton's report to the Arizona Highway Patrol headquarters, was found beside the crumpled rear dual wheels of the tractor. He was alive (continued on classified page)...[I only have pages 1 and 2]
[Source: the newspaper itself]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)
Monday, August 11, 1952, p. 3
Truck Hits Train;
One Man Killed
Congress Junction, Ariz. (UP)--A huge truck-and-trailer skidded 190 feet and crashed into a Santa Fe passenger train, derailing 6 cars, ripping up 500 feet of track and killing one man, authorities said today.
Truitt Pinkney Morgan, 28, of Pomona, Calif., sleeping alternate driver, was killed, and driver Berthcard C. Starkey, Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to Wickenburg Hospital with serious injuries. The crash occurred Sunday.
[Source: Newspapers.com]
Friday, August 15, 1952, p. 1
A Close Race; Death Won
[photo]
Another Fatality On Highway 71.
Sleeping Relief Driver Killed As Truck Crashes Into Train
"Frenchy" Nichols of Phoenix was the engineer at the controls of a diesel locomotive pulling the Santa Fe passenger train down from Ash Fork early last Sunday morning. Nearing Congress and the grade crossing on Highway 71--the ill-fated "cut-off" between Aguila and Highway 89--Engineer Nichols saw a big semi-trailer headed north on 71 and rapidly approaching the railroad crossing. He bore down on the locomotive whistle but realized, instinctively, that a collision was inevitable.
"I just shut my eyes and waited for the crash," he told Highway Patrolman George Pemberton and others later. It came--at exactly 6:10 a.m. The truck struck the diesel four and one-half feet forward of the rear end of the first section. The engine and five of the six cars it was pulling left the track on a wide curve, dug into the right -of-way and came to a stop at a sharp angle, but none overturned. The last coach on the train, a sleeping car, stopped on the crossing and remained on the tracks.
Killed Instantly
The crash almost completely destroyed the tractor but the trailer behind it suffered slight damage. Killed was Truitt P. Morgan, 28-year-old resident of Pomona, Calif., relief driver who is believed to have been asleep in the sleeping compartment of the cab. His body, said Patrolman Pemberton's report to the Arizona Highway Patrol headquarters, was found beside the crumpled rear dual wheels of the tractor. He was alive (continued on classified page)...[I only have pages 1 and 2]
[Source: the newspaper itself]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)
Monday, August 11, 1952, p. 3
Truck Hits Train;
One Man Killed
Congress Junction, Ariz. (UP)--A huge truck-and-trailer skidded 190 feet and crashed into a Santa Fe passenger train, derailing 6 cars, ripping up 500 feet of track and killing one man, authorities said today.
Truitt Pinkney Morgan, 28, of Pomona, Calif., sleeping alternate driver, was killed, and driver Berthcard C. Starkey, Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to Wickenburg Hospital with serious injuries. The crash occurred Sunday.
[Source: Newspapers.com]
Wickenburg Sun (Wickenburg, Arizona)
Friday, August 15, 1952, p. 1
A Close Race; Death Won
[photo]
Another Fatality On Highway 71.
Sleeping Relief Driver Killed As Truck Crashes Into Train
"Frenchy" Nichols of Phoenix was the engineer at the controls of a diesel locomotive pulling the Santa Fe passenger train down from Ash Fork early last Sunday morning. Nearing Congress and the grade crossing on Highway 71--the ill-fated "cut-off" between Aguila and Highway 89--Engineer Nichols saw a big semi-trailer headed north on 71 and rapidly approaching the railroad crossing. He bore down on the locomotive whistle but realized, instinctively, that a collision was inevitable.
"I just shut my eyes and waited for the crash," he told Highway Patrolman George Pemberton and others later. It came--at exactly 6:10 a.m. The truck struck the diesel four and one-half feet forward of the rear end of the first section. The engine and five of the six cars it was pulling left the track on a wide curve, dug into the right -of-way and came to a stop at a sharp angle, but none overturned. The last coach on the train, a sleeping car, stopped on the crossing and remained on the tracks.
Killed Instantly
The crash almost completely destroyed the tractor but the trailer behind it suffered slight damage. Killed was Truitt P. Morgan, 28-year-old resident of Pomona, Calif., relief driver who is believed to have been asleep in the sleeping compartment of the cab. His body, said Patrolman Pemberton's report to the Arizona Highway Patrol headquarters, was found beside the crumpled rear dual wheels of the tractor. He was alive (continued on classified page)...[I only have pages 1 and 2]
[Source: the newspaper itself]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)
Monday, August 11, 1952, p. 3
Truck Hits Train;
One Man Killed
Congress Junction, Ariz. (UP)--A huge truck-and-trailer skidded 190 feet and crashed into a Santa Fe passenger train, derailing 6 cars, ripping up 500 feet of track and killing one man, authorities said today.
Truitt Pinkney Morgan, 28, of Pomona, Calif., sleeping alternate driver, was killed, and driver Berthcard C. Starkey, Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to Wickenburg Hospital with serious injuries. The crash occurred Sunday.
[Source: Newspapers.com]
Friday, August 15, 1952, p. 1
A Close Race; Death Won
[photo]
Another Fatality On Highway 71.
Sleeping Relief Driver Killed As Truck Crashes Into Train
"Frenchy" Nichols of Phoenix was the engineer at the controls of a diesel locomotive pulling the Santa Fe passenger train down from Ash Fork early last Sunday morning. Nearing Congress and the grade crossing on Highway 71--the ill-fated "cut-off" between Aguila and Highway 89--Engineer Nichols saw a big semi-trailer headed north on 71 and rapidly approaching the railroad crossing. He bore down on the locomotive whistle but realized, instinctively, that a collision was inevitable.
"I just shut my eyes and waited for the crash," he told Highway Patrolman George Pemberton and others later. It came--at exactly 6:10 a.m. The truck struck the diesel four and one-half feet forward of the rear end of the first section. The engine and five of the six cars it was pulling left the track on a wide curve, dug into the right -of-way and came to a stop at a sharp angle, but none overturned. The last coach on the train, a sleeping car, stopped on the crossing and remained on the tracks.
Killed Instantly
The crash almost completely destroyed the tractor but the trailer behind it suffered slight damage. Killed was Truitt P. Morgan, 28-year-old resident of Pomona, Calif., relief driver who is believed to have been asleep in the sleeping compartment of the cab. His body, said Patrolman Pemberton's report to the Arizona Highway Patrol headquarters, was found beside the crumpled rear dual wheels of the tractor. He was alive (continued on classified page)...[I only have pages 1 and 2]
[Source: the newspaper itself]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)
Monday, August 11, 1952, p. 3
Truck Hits Train;
One Man Killed
Congress Junction, Ariz. (UP)--A huge truck-and-trailer skidded 190 feet and crashed into a Santa Fe passenger train, derailing 6 cars, ripping up 500 feet of track and killing one man, authorities said today.
Truitt Pinkney Morgan, 28, of Pomona, Calif., sleeping alternate driver, was killed, and driver Berthcard C. Starkey, Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to Wickenburg Hospital with serious injuries. The crash occurred Sunday.
[Source: Newspapers.com]
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