Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad - Fatal Wrecks

Fatal Wrecks

No part of the single track C&LE was protected by block signals, and dispatched passenger and freight service, often at night, and train speeds had dramatically increased. Train operation in two directions on single track with passing sidings was controlled only by dispatcher provided paper orders carried on board by the crew, and the crew had to be very attentive regarding where they were to "meet" trains coming the other way. A simple oversight could lead to a wreck, and this did happen. The very fast Red Devil passenger cars had a one man operator who had much to do, including ticketing and change making. Distractions could make an operator "forget" his orders, and wrecks resulted where both C&LE employees and riders died in head on collisions. Such wrecks usually were due to an operator, often of a Red Devil, proceeding past a siding where he had orders to pause and await the passage of an opposing train. The settlement money expended, not to ignore the terrible loss of life, in claims and lawsuits and repairing, replacing, or scrapping wrecked rolling stock eventually exceeded what an installed block signal system would have cost in 1930 when the C&LE was first established from the three original interurbans. Considerable money was expended in 1930-31 on track improvement and new rolling stock, and block signals should have been added. When Red Devils were sold to the Lehigh Valley Transit to be operated as Liberty Bell Limiteds between Allentown and Philadelphia, there was a similar wreck when a former Devil was struck by a heavy and higher freight motor when the passenger interurban left his siding too soon just north of Norristown in 1941. In this case, although the LVT did have block signals at its sidings, the operator was not paying attention. He was killed, along with many passengers.