Engineer Marks the hero in devastating train wreck

EDITOR’S NOTE: In recognition of Canada’s 150th anniversary, The Herald is reprinting historic stories from the South Okanagan focusing on the biggest news story of each year. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1926:

DEAD Engineer Robert Marks, Penticton. Conductor J. P. Quinn, Hope. Trainmen F. E. Stringer and C. A. Johnson, Brookmere.

INJURED Ray Letts, Fireman, Penticton. The above is the death list of railwaymen in the disastrous wreck which shocked the country, when the Kettle Valley freight train crashed through the bridge past Jessica on Sunday morning. Recent revelations regarding the event reveal that Engineer Robert Marks, who was killed, and Fireman Ray Letts, both of Penticton, were the heroes of the occasion, and did all in their power to avert the culmination of their terrible predicament. “WIRE DISPATCHER” “Wire the DISPATCHER,” he yelled to the section foreman at Jessica as the wild runaway train careened past the station at terrific speed. The driver of the engine sticking right to his post at the throttle, leaning far out of the cab and shouting his last message to the operator. His last thought was for the lives that might be in danger on the track ahead, and his cryptic message was an order to clear the road for the doomed freight. The message was placed on the wire immediately and warned the train DISPATCHER of the danger. Whether it was the means of holding another train from going through the burned bridge is unknown.

The death of Mr. Marks brings to a close a tie which has been associated with the Kettle Valley Railway since its construction in 1914, and it was a great shock to his friends and his wife, who heard the news while absent from the city, has the sympathy of the community. The deceased had many friends and was popular locally.

The deceased was married on June 8th last to Mrs. John Crosby at Keremeos and his sudden death under such tragic circumstances is naturally a tremendous blow to his widow. Mrs. Marks’ former husband, John Crosby, likewise an engineer, lost his life in a wreck on the Kettle Valley about two years ago. CARS RIPPED APART The scene at the wreck was an indication of the speed the train was travelling when the smash came. What cars were not burned at once were scattered about in broken pieces as if a gigantic explosion had torn them apart. Automobiles, which made up a part of the freight, were thrown about in every direction, ripped into pieces, The frame or the auto freight cars was found, but nothing else, The wheel of one car was driven flat against the tender of the engine, where it remained.

A carload of hides caught fire, and the odor of burning flesh filled the air.

The train was largely made up of lead shipments from Trail, and in the fire which followed the wreck this was melted, the molten lead running down the mountain side, where it hardened into fantastic shapes. Latest accounts are that a watch, a belt buckle, a glove and part of an unrecognizable body were found.

As soon as news of the disaster reached Merritt, a special train was rushed to Coquihalla with medical aid. Those on board were unable to do anything, so intense was the heat. For hours after the wreck had burned itself out the trestle and the tree above it continued to burn. Wrecking trains have been at work since Monday, but it probably will be ten days before traffic is resumed through the pass. In the meantime the Kettle Valley trains are routed through Merritt and Spences Bridge.

The train crew went to death bravely, the men working at feverish haste to try and check the speed of the train, which had gotten out of hand. The wisdom of the engineer of the second engine which was running in the rear of the train ahead of the caboose, in cutting free from the train is favorably commented upon by railroaders. They state that the engine could have done no good by sticking, and the crew would most certainly have been killed if the locomotive had not cut off when it did, as shortly afterwards a wheel of a coal car ahead broke, wrecking the cars.

Experts from Winnipeg are on their way to carry out an investigation to try and establish the cause of the air failing. BODY EMBEDDED IN LEAD The one body recovered was found by Constable Hazelton of Hope. It was partly embedded in lead, which had melted under the terrific heat of the fire. It is possible that other bodies may be recovered under the tons of coal that were spilled when the crash came. FRUIT PICKERS DEAD? There is every possibility that two Vancouver youths, Ralph M. Racklyeft, 17 of 737 Twenty-third avenue, and Herbert Walton, of Thirteenth avenue west, were killed In the wreck of the Kettle Valley freight train on Sunday morning. The father of the Racklyeft boy received a wire from police Constable Hazelton at Hope as follows:

“Advise if your son Ralph, who left Kirton on Saturday night arrived home. He was seen on the Kettle Valley train wrecked on Sunday”. STILL A MYSTERY Although railway officials have been on the ground for several days, it is stated that the cause of the accident remains a mystery and will doubtless continue a mystery.

While a Vancouver statement credited a broken wheel as being the cause of the mishap, this is discredited, as it is definitely known that the train was out of control and was speeding headlong for at least seventeen miles before it crashed. MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH A sad feature of the disaster, which is admitted to have been probably the most tragic in the history of railroading in Canada, although not the greatest in point of numbers killed, is that there is an impression that had the speeding train turned the curve on the bridge successfully it might have been possible for it to have held to the tracks on the more level stretch between that point and Hope.

No steps have been taken to hold an inquest as yet. Prominent railway officials have been on the spot ever since the accident happened. These include C. Murphy, general superintendent of the Western Lines; C. A. Cottrell, General superintendent of the B. C. Division, Vancouver; T. H. Crump, superintendent of the K. V .R., Penticton, and G. Pratt, trainmaster and master mechanic of the Kettle Valley, Penticton.