Norfolk & Western Derailment – April 1, 1971

Fifty years ago this month, the small item above appeared in the Lorain Journal on April 1, 1971. The derailment of seven Norfolk and Western railroad cars wasn’t particularly big news (compared to the April 1891 Great Kipton Train Wreck, or the even more tragic 1916 New York Central Railroad Wreck near Amherst) but it was a dramatic scene nevertheless. 

The photograph was by none other than our good friend Gene Patrick.

A 1952 View showing the Wye 

Although the photo caption said that the derailment occurred east of the Harris Road crossing, I still wasn’t quite sure where it happened. So I consulted historian and archivist (and all around good guy) Dennis Lamont. His special area of interest is the Lake Shore Electric Electric, but he knows a lot about just about everything as it pertains to area history.

So where did this derailment occur? Dennis noted, “It is over by what is now the huge Ford yard. 

“Before all that happened, there was nothing there except a wye junction leading down to the French Creek Yards.

"That was a normal "way" freight that somehow derailed, and caused the slow speed pileup. Most embarrassing, which is why the railroad didn't want to talk about it!”

During the many years I lived on the east side of Lorain and then Sheffield Lake, I frequently ran into problems trying to get from my house to the I-90 interchange in Avon. It seems that no matter what road I took to get to Colorado Avenue – Root Road, Lake Breeze, Harris Road, Miller Road, etc. – I could count on a stopped train blocking it sooner or later. I almost always was able to trace the stopped train all the way to the Ford yard in Avon Lake. These incidents were frequently written up in the Avon Lake Press.

Thus it was quite the godsend when the massive overpass at Abbe Road was constructed (although I missed how peaceful and ‘countrified’ that area was before it was built).