Moline Railroad Depot

[jarhead]

Waldo,
I suppose it was a mile or so south of Howard there was a county road that went west off of 99 highway. The road went across the Howard Branch line right as the gravel road went west. at the crossing there was a sign that had a cross on it that meant someone was killed at the crossing. seems like there was more than one of these signs there. That was back in the 60's. You have any idea who was killed there---and when ?

[W. Gray]

No, I sure don't.

The Elk County history book has a section on transportation but they do not mention any railroad accident deaths.

I checked The Iron Horse & I, written by the Climax Switch Master (James Burke) and the only problem he mentions on the Howard Branch was the wipe out on K-96. By the way, the automobile carrying the three passengers was a 1937 Ford Coupe and the locomotive number was 1019.

Come to think of it, the Climax Switch Master was long gone from the Howard Branch by the 1960s.

[W. Gray]

I would like to add to Marcia's comment that Howard (and maybe even Amy/Busby) tried to get the St Louis and San Francisco RR to come through, but Severy won out. The surveyors probably had as much to do with it as Frisco management.

As near as I can determine, the line would have headed west out of Howard to Western Park before heading back up into Greenwood or Butler County.

Somewhere in the history book, it says that Howard wanted the Frisco so that the town could boast of being a "transportation center."

[frawin]

The first gravel road a mile south of Howard that went West across tracks was the road to the Guy V. Denton home. I crossed that everyday in the Winter and most days in the summer in the early 60s as I worked for the Denton Ranch. The next road that goes west is 2 miles South of town and you cross the tracks there just after you leave the highway, I am pretty sure there wasn't any train auto collisions there either. At the last crossing, I picked up 2 of Moline's prominent citizens about midnight one night, I was taking my Molinhe date home . They had driven there vehicle down the track from Howard and got that far and got straddle of the rails and couldn't move. They were pretty loaded with Jack Daniels or one of his cousins. I took them on to Moline and one of their wives ate me out for getting her husband drunk. The other one wasn't married and I had to help in find someone to go back and get the car off the tracks. I don't recall any train auto collisions around Howard in my day .

[W. Gray]

One other item of note: the speed limit of trains on the Howard Branch was 30 m.p.h. in 1948 and I doubt if that improved any until abandonment in 1975.

Howard had train service but it was not a mainline with fast trains and there was only one milk train each way each day except Sunday.

[Marcia Moore]

     On Nov. 12, 1928, the automobile in which George L. Shoemaker and Fred B. Jordan were riding was struck by a Santa Fe extra train at the railroad crossing on Highway No. 11, just north of Howard.  Shoemaker and Jordan were on their way to Howard to transact some business matters.  On account of the poor view of the approaching train, they did not see it in time to stop the car.  The motor car was struck by the engine just behind the front wheels.  Both men were thrown from the car into the cattle guard, and apparently the heads of both men struck the cattle guard.  They were taken in an ambulance to Howard, but Shoemaker died before reaching Howard, and Jordan died a few minutes after arriving at the doctor's office.  Both Shoemaker and Jordan were prominent men in Severy and had been friends all their lives, so a joint funeral service was held for them. 

[frawin]

Marcia, very interesting, I assume that had to be the crossing just 1/2 mile north of Howard.

[jarhead]

Please don't tell me I'm off my rocker about a fatality from train / car south of Howard !! I wrote 3 of my sisters but no response back yet but if they get a chance to make me look like a dummy they will remain silent. was thinking also a feller named Joe Brown from Elk falls was hit and killed by a train around Moline sometime in the late 50's or did I dream that ? Seems like Joe Brown lived west of the Day Wilkerson place in Elk Falls. also I was working at Moline rock quarry in early 70's. an old timer there named Jack Frost told me a switch engine ran out onto the main line at the quarry and collided with a steam engine and a rail roader was killed but was supposed to have happened long before my time. Any history on that ?

[Marcia Moore]

Yes, that was the crossing just 1/2 mile north of Howard.

[frawin]

In my day that was all pretty open at that crossing, surprising they would hit a train there.