Valley Girl Views: Runaway Locomotive Crashes Into House, Ranshaw 1935

On September 22nd 1953, Engine 5256 ran away from the Maysville Slope, crashing at the end of third street in Brady [Ranshaw] Pa.

Ranshaw is a coal mining town east of Shamokin. A 1929 map shows the area as Ranshaw/Brady. The fire company in Ranshaw is the Brady Fire Company.

From the Shamokin News, 1953:

[With added photos from the Thomas Studio, Shamokin]

A runaway Pennsylvania Railroad Company coal train early this morning was automatically derailed at Brady, causing seven gondolas to jump the tracks and resulting the locomotive plunging down all embankment and crashing into a dwelling.

Maysville Slope

The spectacular wreck occurred after the 21-gondola train ran away from Maysville No. 1 Slope. where the cars were being loaded, and sped one and one-half miles down a steep grade. No one was injured in the crash, which occurred at 2:15 this morning.

Crew members, after realizing they would not be able to control the runaway abandoned the train.

The engine crashed into a garage adjoining the home of Mrs. Rose Klebon, 217 Third Street, Brady. Mrs. Klebon and her daughter. Anna, and a boarder. Anthony Habura. were sleeping at the time of the crash.

The garage is attached to the south side of the Klebon home. Force of the crash pushed a section of the garage's cement block foundation into the living room of the dwelling and damaged the front porch of the home.

Miss Anna Klebon said occupants of the home did not realize what had happened. She said her first thought was that a bomb had been dropped or the end of the world had arrived.

The Klebon home was filled with steam as the boiler of the wrecked locomotive was shattered in the crash. Mrs. Klebon, her daughter and Habura fled from the home in panic. Habura sustained lacerations of his right arm when he pushed it through a glass in a rear door in fleeing.

An automobile owned, by Mrs. Klebon's son, Private Russell Klebon, now serving with the Second Combat Engineers in Korea, was parked in the garage. Although entrance to the garage is impossible because of blockage by the locomotive and tons of coal, indications are the car is demolished. A refrigerator and tools are stored in the garage, also.

Railroad officials, in explaining cause of the accident. reported the runaway train sped down the Maysville Slope spur line and was automatically derailed at the junction of the Shamokin branch's main Sunbury-Mount Carmel line.

Company officials said the automatic derailing device prevented the train from speeding through to Shamokin.

Members of the crew were engaged in coupling the loaded gondolas when the train began to move. Because of insufficient air pressure in the brake lines, the crew was unable to hold the train.

Robert Hewitt, Sunbury, the fireman, left the engine when he became aware of the runaway and jumped on a gondola in an attempt to apply hand brakes. However, the emergency action failed to hold the train.

The conductor, W.S. Merril. Sunbury, tried to board the train, but the runaway movement was too fast. Other members of the crew were C. B. Furr, Sunbury, engineer, and P. E'. Leitzel. Sunbury, and J. R. Beaver. Mount Carmel, brakemen.

The crash buckled seven gondolas and scattered coal around a siding on which the runaway was speeding. The coal tender was thrown near the locomotive after the crash and was almost completely covered with coal.

The main Mount Carmel line was cleared before 10:00 this morning as a railroad wrecking crew labored to clear the tracks to enable passage of ore trains scheduled for today.