Burlington Daily Times-News Monday, September 11, 1950

[Transcription bt E. T. Bales October 11, 2016]

Two Trainmen Lose Lives at Gibsonville

Fire Sweeps Freight Cars After Wreck

By Don Metcalf

Gibsonville, Sept. 11—Normal traffic was resumed on the Southern Railway line through here around 8 o’clock last night after the worst train disaster to occur in this section of the country within the past 10 years killed two persons and disrupted service on the line for approximately 16 hours yesterday.

Wrecking crews worked into the night to clear the track area of the smoldering twisted wreckage which was when and outbound locomotive and 18 freight cars overturned after being derailed near the station here around 2:45 o’clock yesterday morning.

Approximately six of the cars coupled nearest the engine were ignited when a tank car reportedly containing a fuel oil was smashed. The remaining 22 or 23 cars that were not derailed were towed from the scene a short time after the accident occurred to get them out of the danger zone.

In addition to causing two deaths, the crash did an undetermined amount of damage to the freight cars and their cargos.

The train’s engineer, Plez Alexander Transou, 57, of Winston=Salem, died of burns almost immediately following the crash, and Arnold S. Jackson, 32, of Salisbury, fireman, died about five hours later at Alamance General Hospital from burns received about the face and body.

Conductor Injured

The condition of Conductor E. W. Stone of Salisbury, who was taken to Alamance General Hospital suffering from burns about the hands and lower part of the body, was today listed as satisfactory by hospital officials.

Stone will be transferred to a Salisbury hospital when his condition is sufficiently improved to permit the change, it was reported.

A number of spectators arrived at the area a short time after the crash occurred and an estimated 30,000 persons visited the scene yesterday to view the wreckage. Members of the State Highway Patrol, the Gibsonville Police Department and the Southern Railway Police Force blocked off the area with ropes to keep spectators from hampering workmen who were clearing the wreckage from the tracks.

Roads throughout this area were clogged with traffic as motorists from all over North Carolina and neighboring states journeyed to see the wreck as news of the tragedy spread.

Wrecking crews and two derrick cars were brought here from Spencer as soon as possible after the accident to clear the tracks of the mangled cars in order that traffic could be resumed on the line.

Jammed Switch

A Southern Railway official at Greensboro said yesterday that the derailment apparently was caused by the switch at the station here being jammed by a steam pipe coupling which probably dropped from a passenger train that passed through here at 2:10 o’clock.

Railway officials were still inspecting the crash area this morning in an effort to determine the damage and salvage the undamaged goods.

Included among the cargo hauled by the freight, which was bound from Spencer to Selma, were five carloads of new automobiles, three cars of meat, and one car each of oil, coal and general merchandise.

The contents of the remaining nine cars were not known. It is thought that the meat and automobiles were destined for Raleigh, and so far as could be determined, none of the cargo was designated for Alamance County.

Reports from residents of the area indicated that something exploded after the engine left the tracks and overturned, and that the tank car of oil, located a short distance behind the engine, was ignited immediately.

Terrific Force

R. W. Madren, whose home is located less than 100 feet from the track area where the crash occurred, reported that the force of the explosion almost jarred him and members of his family from their beds.

“Good Lord, the whole world’s on fire,” was the first thought of Freeman Yow, a Southern Railway brakeman at the Burlington switchyard, when he was awakened by the explosion and saw the burning tank car. Yow lives near the wreck scene.

Yow stated that the train’s brakeman, Curtis Crane of Salisbury, leaped from the train following the crash and pulled the fireman from the wrecked engine before going to the home of Ed Burke to call for an ambulance and firemen.

Chief K. F. Ellington of the Gibsonville Police Department reported that he heard a tremendous bump, thought to have been caused by the engine leaving the tracks, followed by an explosion.

An employee of Smith Funeral Home here, Walter Blythe, said that the explosion apparently awakened him, and the flames were lighting were lighting up the entire area. Blythe, who was sleeping at the funeral home, which is located several blocks from the scene of the wreck, reported that he looked at his watch before taking an ambulance to the scene, and the time was 2:50 o’clock.

Flames from the burning cars could also be seen a considerable distance from Gibsonville.

One man reported that he could see a tremendous glare in that direction while at the intersection of Highways 70 and 54 at the Burlington city limits, while Richard Minor, telegraph editor of the Burlington Daily Times-News, stated that it appeared that the entire town of Gibsonville was on fire when he passed through Elon College on his way to the wreckage scene shortly before 4:00 am.

Firemen from Gibsonville, Burlington and Greensboro fought for more than three hours before bringing the blaze under control.

Transou was a native of Forsyth County and had resided in Winston-Salem many years. He had been with the Southern Railway System many years. He had been with the Southern Railway System as an engineer 34 years.

Survivors are his wife, the former Hattie Farrington; one son, Plez Avery Transou; five brothers, Frank, Avery, Claude, Gaither, and Fred Transou, and three sisters, Mrs. A. E. Burke, Mrs. W. J. Ehart and Mrs. C. L. Tucker, all of Winston-Salem.

The funeral was held at Vogler’s Chapel, Winston-Salem at 4 PM today by Rev. Charles Adams and Rev. E. A. Molton. Burial was in the New Philadelphia Graveyard.

Jackson is survived by his wife, the former Etta May Hales; one son, Allan Scott; his father C. R. Jackson of Route 1, Linwood; one brother, Thomas H. Jackson of Salisbury, and one sister, Mrs. Charles Caddell of Route 1, Linwood.

The funeral was held at 2:30 PM today at Piedmont Funeral Home in Lexington by Rev. Banks Peeler. Burial was in the Lexington Cemetery.