Here are newspaper clippings and photographs showing the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific wreck located two miles east of Smith Center, Kansas. The wreck occurred when the Rock Island passenger train No. 7, the Rocky Mountain Limited, was derailed, resulting in three cars being burned and passengers and employees being slightly injured. It was reported the accident was due to excessive speed over a defective piece of track. The train was traveling about 35 miles an hour when the accident occurred. The locomotive left the rails and landed in a field. The cars were dragged with the locomotive, and the large tender was wrenched and twisted. One of the mail cars collided with the tender and the wrecked cars immediately caught on fire and quickly burned. A mail clerk was quite badly wounded and four others were slightly injured. Ray Wiggins, engineer, and Will Doleman, fireman, were in charge of the engine and retained their places on the locomotive during the accident. Wiggins sustained slight injuries by being thrown from his seat. The fireman Will Doleman is credited with rendering assistance to the injured and extinguishing the fire.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Wreck of Rock Island #7 near Smith Center, Kansas - 7