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Collision at Sterlington NY - (24 Oct/15 Mar)
Hi. I am a police officer in Ramapo NY and was talking with my boss the other day who stated that he was on duty the morning of August 11, 1958 (he is an old timer), and that he covered a collision between two trains (commuters) on the Erie @ Sterlington,NY I pulled out the reports from the archives and found that the two units involved were the two above. The accident happened when the operator in the tower at Suffern failed to hold the westbound GP 7 # 1402 at Suffern for the eastbound PA1 # 859, when he realized his error, he attempted to contact the crews via radio but was unsucessful. The trains impacted head on killing the crew of the PA1 and injuring the crew of the GP7 who were able to jump as the unit was only moving @ about 20 MPH. Two passengers on the eastbound were also killed. My question regards the disposition of these units. I checked the page and saw that the PA 1 was retired in 1969. Was it put back in service after the accident? The police report states that the impact was so bad that the PA climbed on top of the GP7 and the units were welded together from the impact. The page says that the 1402 was wrecked but not scrapped until 1965. Did they hold it all that time. I would appreciate if you would be so kind as to let me know what happened.
The PA was eastbound, and the GP was westbound. The operator in Suffern(SF tower) got busy, and did not set the switch. Apparently he realized that there was going to be a collision, and tried to reach the crews via radio but could not.
The collision occurred at 6:59am near the old Sterlington station (I have a photo showing it at the time of the crash, let me know if you want it) killing 5.
Unbelievably the crew of the PA fared worse then the crew of the GP as all were killed on the PA along with two passengers on the PA (commuter run)
The westbound GP was train#53 pulled by 1402. The PA was #859
This is still very much in the memory of the officers that were on the scene that summer morning nearly 40 years ago.
Ok, here goes... I wish these were of better quality, but they were taken by the police photographers at that time, and up in this neck of the woods that was still an experimental art.
The Sterlington station is interesting as it was at the junction to an old narrow gauge railroad that used to service the iron mines in the Ringwood area. The narrow tracks must have been removed as some of the locals tell me they remember Erie locomotives on that branch. The only thing left now are some portions of the ROW. The station is long gone.
- GP-7 1402 and PA-1 859 in headon collision
- Commuter coach against PA-1 859
- Looking along the train toward the station
Last Updated - 19 Dec 1997
