This is the current marker for the Heritage Park train in McDonough, Georgia. This is not the marker needed for the historic marker for the hold #7
©Article Courtesy Of Atlanta-Journal Constitution
AJC article:Wreck of Old No. 7 Train buff wants marker at site of 1900 disaster
BYLINE: ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Staff
DATE: July 27, 2006
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Main; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Henry
PAGE: JM9
Days of heavy rains made bustling railroad town McDonough swampy on June 23, 1900.
Camp Creek, which normally swished gently through the Henry County town, had swelled and loudly rushed under the Southern Railway railroad tracks.
The heavy waters washed out a trestle running over Camp Creek. Locomotive 846, which was carrying a caboose and two cars filled with at least eight passengers, 20 employees and six other people, ran off the washed-out trestle that night and plunged 50 feet into the creek.
At least 30 people died that night, including a woman clutching a baby as they were washed away by the current.
John Quinn wants people to always remember that evening, which turned out to be one of Georgia's most tragic.
The McDonough retiree wants the Norfolk Southern Corp., which owns what used to be Southern Railway, to put up a historical marker at the wreck site.
"It seems to me it would be the rightful thing for the railway to do," Quinn said. "It's a very historical site, I feel."
So far, no one else agrees with him. City and county officials haven't done it, and neither has Norfolk Southern.
But Quinn has continued his quest to get something put up at the site, which still crosses over the creek but has new subdivisions popping up all around.
Old No. 7
Locomotive 846 was known as the Old No. 7 in McDonough. People were used to seeing it roar back and forth on trips between Macon and Atlanta.
But that particular locomotive already had been involved in two fatal accidents, according to a July 4, 1900, Atlanta Constitution story.
The story said in the late 1880s, the train had run into a farm wagon on a trip in East Tennessee, killing three people. A few years later, the train killed nine members of one family crossing tracks near Chattanooga in a covered wagon.
The train was rechristened "851" to break its streak of bad luck.
But the train fell into another creek, this one in Tennessee, a few years later. No one died in that crash, and the train went back to it's original "846."
The 1900 crash at Camp Creek was fiery and deadly.
"The scene about us was something I can't describe to you," Jesse Rohr, a survivor from Baltimore, told the newspaper two days after the crash. "The other coaches were smashed into kindling wood and burning. A black mass of water that looked to me like the Mississippi River and had a roar like Niagara, was rushing just beyond our cars."
Railroad says no
Nowadays, the creek rushes under the current trestle, which is sturdy and hasn't seen any accidents since.
McDonough City Manager James Lee said the Old No. 7 train is an important part of the city's legacy. But he wasn't sure if the city would be willing to put up a marker of some sort.
"We'd have to look and see what we're talking about and see what kind of money we'd be talking about," Lee said. "But we wouldn't be closed-minded to looking."
Norfolk Southern officials were firm in opposing the idea.
"Mr. Quinn contacted Norfolk Southern several months ago to inquire whether we would post a historical marker at the site of a 1900 train derailment in McDonough," said spokeswoman Susan Tarplay. "We are not able to assist him with this project.
"Our emphasis today is on the safety of current operations in the communities where we operate and on serving customers," she said. "In addition, for safety reasons, we have strict policies against placing signage or markers near active railroad tracks since that encourages individuals to come near the tracks, which is dangerous."
Still, Quinn said he will continue to try to get some marker put up at the site.
"I don't want it to be forgotten," said Quinn, a retired security professional who is a history and train buff. "I want it to be remembered."
Photo
POUYA DIANAT / Staff
John Quinn, a retired security professional who is a history and train enthusiast, has been rebuffed by Norfolk Southern railroad in his bid to get a marker near the site of a fatal 1900 McDonough train wreck at Camp Creek. But the city hasn't turned him down yet.
Photo
A headline on the front page of The Atlanta Constitution on June 25, 1900, screamed out about the horror of the wreck of Locomotive 846, also known as Old No. 7, in McDonough. Flooding washed out a trestle, and the train plunged into Camp Creek, killing passengers and crew members.
