When Death Rode The Rails With The "Williamsporter", Sunbury 1936

Three died when the Williamsporter plunged off the rails near Sunbury PA, on January 30th 1936.  A fourth man died months later, from his injuries.

"Crash of the Williamsporter, resulting in three dead and thirty-two injured. The accident occurred on the entry to the Reading Railroad Bridge, at Clement Station (Blue Hill), opposite Sunbury. The locomotive and passenger cars were hurled into the old canal bed, thirty feet below the bridge.

The January 30, 1936 crash took place in frigid, sub-zero temperatures. A reading of 20-below was recorded on January 26, 1936.

The view is looking east from Blue Hill toward the Susquehanna River and Sunbury." - Charles Fasold Collection

On January 30 1936, The "Williamsporter" came around the steep curve to enter the bridge and cross the Susquehanna River at Sunbury, when it hit a broken rail, and the train was plunged over the side, the ending landing in the old canal bed. 

Three were killed instantly, 32 injured, and one of the injured died a few months later, bringing the death total  to 4.  

The locomotive plunged from the tracks just as it reached the end of the bridge at Clements station, directly across the river from Sunbury.

Stories persist today, saying that the engine was never removed, that it could not be removed by crane, and is still today buried in the ground under route 11.  

"Tearing down one of the piers of the bridge, the locomotive plunged 30 feet into the canal, dragging the mail and baggage card and two of the sleepers with it.  The first cards crashed on their sides with terrific force."

"The locomotive in its drop ripped off two spans of the bridge, slid along the canal bed for several feet, and finally stopped, battered and crushed, at he very brink of the frozen river.

Behind it, the baggage-mail car lay across the highway, it's contents strewn around the vicinity.  The three passenger cars stood upright in the canal bed."

Several witnesses reported seeing the engine explode before the crash.  Inspectors later explained: "A shower of sparks from the engine accompanied the plunge, giving witnesses the idea that the locomotive exploded".

As a section of the bridge was torn away, the ties on the span caught fire, hampering rescue efforts.  Every fire station throughout the area was summoned to the scene.

"Screams of injured passengers waking to find themselves in a mass of wreckage in the midnight darkness could be heard for miles around the scene"

"The first baggage car was standing on its base, the wheels missing, right side up with the second mail car lying on its side in the canal.  The two passenger passenger coached and the two freight cars on the rear or the train came to a stop in an upright position, the base on the ground and the wheels scattered around the scene."

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LIST OF THE INJURED AND OF THE DEAD
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For More Local History & Stories

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

For a chronological list of Train Incidents in the Valley:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/12/an-index-of-railroad-incidents-in.html

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READ MORE
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Undated photo of the railroad bridge at Sunbury. Possibly the "new" bridge that replaced the one involved in the crash here.