Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Latrobe Bulletin
February 4, 1903
Landslide On L. V. R. R.
Narrow Escape From Disastrous Wreck
Train Stopped Just In Time
Engineer Dunlap Saw Five Tons of Earth Piled Up on the Track Ahead of Him, and Stopped His Train in Nick of Time. Train Was Delayed Nearly Two Hours. Passengers Badly Frightened.
It was only through the wonderful presence of mind exercised by engineer Thomas Dunlap, the veteran engineer on the L, V. R, R. that a frightful catastrophe was averted this morning. Engineer Dunlap was bringing the passenger train to Latrobe on its usual morning trip and had just pulled the throttle open wide after leaving the station at Long Bridge.
The train had acquired a rapid rate of speed when the engineer looking ahead saw that the track was completely blocked by a small mountain of dirt and stone.
He hastily put on the air brakes and reversed the engine, and with jerks and jolts and the crunching of sand beneath the spark-emitting wheels the train was brought to a stop, just as the cow-catcher of the engine plowed its nose into the land-slide.
A distance of over fifty feet of the track was covered by the dirt and stone which had fallen from the steep cliff just this side of the blue rock quarries. Over five tons of earth fell on the truck, having been loosened by the heavy rain of last night.
A force of men was immediately put to work cleaning the track and after shoveling for nearly 2 hours the track was finally clear. The train rolled into the local station an hour and forty minutes late; later than it has been for over ten years.
The train was well filled with a badly frightened lot of passengers who were still shuddering over their narrow escape.