Holly Gibson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Now, has anyone done some in-depth
> research on the North Coast Limited wreck on Evaro
> Hill a few months later in 1962?



Yes. I have.

The Evaro accident of June 10, 1962, involving NP's No. 26, the eastbound "North Coast Limited," was no mystery. The cause was readily apparent shortly after the accident. The engine crew, both engineer and fireman, were inebriated. When the train began its descent of Evaro hill (2.2% grade), the locomotive engineer was curled up asleep on the floor of the cab, and the fireman, who was running the engine, had nodded off. They went over the summit without doing a running brake test and with the throttle in Run 8 (from climbing the west side of the hill). In about 1.5 miles, they accelerated from 54 MPH at the summit to 87 MPH at the point-of-derailment. The accident resulted in the death of a little girl, Theresa Ann Dooms, who would have turned three years old in July 1962. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I have given presentations of this accident, too, but it is easily done in less than an hour, as the cause was never a mystery and there really isn't a whole lot to say about it--although, on the other hand, there are some rather interesting though non-mysterious human-factors involved. The difference from the Granite accident, in other words, is that these human factors were well known at the time and there simply wasn't any "mystery" to the event. When it comes to alcohol, man hasn't changed much in 6,000 years and there isn't much new under the sun.

The Evaro accident got more press than did the Granite accident, due to its cause and also to the fact that it entailed a passenger fatality. It made a bigger splash in the news. But in my opinion, the Granite accident was, by far, more important in the overall history of the NP, because it had much deeper implications and farther reaching effects in the aftermath. Of the two accidents, the Granite one resulted in much more profound changes to the NP's operation in the remaining eight years of its existence, changes that were felt all the way from the top in St. Paul to the most junior fireman in engine service anywhere on the Railway. Plus, the Granite accident remained a true mystery for about 43 years. These changes resulted from what WAS known about the accident, even though there were yet many important things that were NOT known. Those of you who have seen the Granite presentation will understand how it is that an accident shrouded in mystery could simultaneously result in far-reaching changes to NP's operation.

One side note on Evaro: In just this past year, the family of the small girl killed at Evaro learned about me somehow, and they tried hard to reach me--with eventual success. Unbelievably, for THEM the Evaro accident WAS a mystery. That is, they never were told the full story behind what this engine crew had done, and how events had led up to their actions, etc.--and the newspaper accounts never covered this at the time, because "news" tends to be short-lived and VERY shallow. Yes, they knew the engine crew was drunk, but that's about all they knew. They had little knowledge of all the rest. So for about 48 years, the poor family lived in wonder as to what happened, why, how, etc. All five family members were aboard that train, and all were injured--one fatally, of course. The two older sisters remember those events vividly and to this day are afraid to ride on a train. Anyway, the family had never even seen a copy of the ICC accident report and didn't even know one existed. They had few, if any, details on the accident sequence. This was not due to a "conspiracy" or "cover-up," but rather just to the fact that communication prior to this computer age was nothing like it is today, and to the fact that they just didn't know the right people.

So in this day and age of the Internet, they learned about me and then got in touch with me, and over the past year or so I have given them a full-blown "course of instruction," as it were, on what happened, including a copy of the accident report and dozens of top-qualithy photos taken by famed NP photographer Ron Nixon, who arrived on-scene at Evaro 14 minutes after the derailment happened, while the dust was still settling and while passengers had just started to crawl out of the equipment. His photos are very graphic. I sent copies of all of them to the family, with a LONG caption for each image explaining everything to them.

They were so taken aback by, and appreciative of, this effort that they drove clear across Washington state last July just to meet me in Spokane for a couple of hours at the NPRHA convention. This meeting was done very discreetly. Only a few select NPRHA members in attendance were aware of this, as I didn't want any "publicity" on them just yet. They still harbored a lot of pain over the whole deal, and to them, "Northern Pacific" was not a well-liked name! But when I met them they were practically in tears--tears of joy--at having been so well informed as to what happened to their little sister, daughter, etc. They told me that for the first time they had "closure" on it.

So I guess the greater part of the human-interest angle on the Evaro story centers around the family of the girl killed, rather than around the engine crew, and perhaps took place some 48 years after the event. In any case, I have some new friends, now, in that family!


Bill Kuebler