News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
100-years ago Wednesday a coal train bound for Monterey derailed and killed two men.
Wreck investigators partially blamed the derailment on a passenger train from the afternoon before.
Putnam County Historian Dale Welch said that train experienced a small derailment as it crossed the Lovejoy Bridge in Overton County, but the engineer and conducter never reported it.
“The next morning, a special coal train left Wilder with two engines and several cars,” Welch said. “It was pouring rain when they stopped at Lovejoy station at about 2 a.m. They stayed at the station for just a little bit and headed on down the way. When the reached the bridge, they hit the small derailment again, and two engines and a few cars made it across the bridge before the rest collapsed down.”
Investigators also faulted the track foreman, saying he should have been aware of the dangerous conditions on the curve leading to the bridge before any derailment occurred.
The derailment killed two brakemen identified as 26-year-old Willie Wright and 35-year-old Grover Gill. Family members buried both men at Monterey’s Whittaker Cemetery.
