Fortunately, this one looked a lot worse than it was.
It’s been 105 years since this freight wreck took place on the West Shore Railroad line in Haworth on Feb. 8, 1914. Nobody was injured in the derailment, but damage for the rail company ran $1,619 (about $40,000 in today’s dollars) and the cleanup took nearly 12 hours.
A westbound freight train was traveling at about 20 mph when nine cars derailed and piled up on the track about 300 feet east of the Haworth station. The accident was traced to a mechanical failure in the 32nd car back from the engine.’
In those days the West Shore line had two tracks and was used for freight as well as passenger service. Needless to say, Feb. 8, 1914 was a bad day for the Northern Valley’s rail commuters.
Below, an early 20th century view of Haworth’s West Shore railroad station shows the double track. The station stood at Haworth Avenue and Houston Place.
