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The wreck occurred when an eastbound freight train lost its air descending the East Slope and ran away, derailing and striking the old Seventeenth Street Bridge moving it 32 inches off its foundation. Photos courtesy of Altoona Model Railroaders Club. Click to enlarge.

On November 29, 1925, Freight No. 1262 was hauling fifty-eight freight cars, running east from Kittanning Point on Horseshoe Curve, near Altoona Pennsylvania. The engineer lost brake power as the tracks began a sharp descent down the Allegheny mountainside.

The crew of two stayed at their posts, navigating the curves and alerting the countryside with the whistle and bell.

The train plunged "like a demon" down the five-mile grade, finally smashing into the Altoona train yard, and sending bystanders leaping for safety. The crew perished. Five thousand spectators came to view the wreckage.

The tonality of the whistle and bell echoing in the gorges make the amazing ride a fit subject for musical treatment. Vernon Dalhart originally recorded the song in January 1926. The NewLanders found it in a collection, Scalded to Death by the Steam, Authentic Stories of Railroad Disasters and the Ballads that Were Written About Them, by Katie Letcher Lyle.

They had just left the point at Kittanning
Freight number Twelve Sixty Two.
She traveled right on down the mountain
Brave were the men in her crew.

The engineer pulled at the whistle
For the brakes wouldn't work when applied.
The brakeman climbed out on the car tops
For he know what the whistle had cried.

With all of the strength God gave him
He tightened the brakes with a prayer.
But the train kept right on down the mountain
And her whistle was piercing the air.

Horseshoe Curve, 1934. Photo: A. P. McDowell, held by the Library of Congress.
Click to enlarge.

On down the grade she was racing.
She sped like a demon from Hell.
The engineer blowing the whistle.
The brakeman was ringing the bell.

The engine was broken in pieces.
The freight cars were thrown far
      and near.
And a mile up the track laid the wreckage,
The worst wreck in many a year

They were found at their posts in the wreckage.
They died where the engine had fell.
The engineer still held to the whistle
And the brakeman hung on to the bell.

NewLanders personnel: Art Gazdik, violin and mandolin; Gerard Rohlf, acoustic guitar, backing vocal; Paula Purnell, acoustic guitar, backing vocal; Doug Wilkin, electric guitar, lead vocal; Dave Yates, bass; Dan Kaplan, harmonica; RJ Heid, drums.

Liner notes: NewLanders, and Scott Brown of the Horseshoe Curve Chapter National Railway Historical Society.

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Songs not otherwise attributed were recorded at the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange in 2001, 2003, 2004, or 2005 at the National Labor College/George Meany Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. Engineers: Bob Barnes, Ellis Boal, Charlie Ray Fetty III, Joe Jencks, Ray Korona, George Mann, Dave Sless, Isaac Wilson.

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