GREAT MAYBEURY, W. VA. TRAIN WRECK TRAGEDY STRIKES A SHINBRIER NEIGHBOR At seven-fifteen pm June 30, 1937 westbound N & W time freight #85 plunged off the east end of Maybeury Bridge and into W. VA. railroad history. The disaster took four lives and tied up rail and road traffic for weeks. The eighty-nine car train was a supply train for the coalfields company stores. Engine was N & W # 2092, only seven years old and one of the world's most powerful steam locomotives. Maybeury is located about fifteen miles west of Bluefield, W. VA. It takes its name from two pioneer McDowell County coal operators....Mr. May and Mr. Beury. As time freight # 85 began the steep descent through 3,000 foot long Coaldale Tunnel the brakeman, James C. Ball, realized something was wrong with the train....it was running away. Fifty feet from the Maybeury Bridge the steering wheels derailed pulling the rest of the locomotive off the tracks at 55 mph and headlong into the 180 foot Maybeury crevasse. Fifty - three boxcars followed it off the N & W main line tracks and into the inferno. There was a deafening explosion as # 2092 hit the road below and exploded on impact. Many local windows were blown out. # 2092's boiler housing was blown 893 feet. Seconds later another huge blast occurred as a Texaco gasoline tanker exploded shattering windows and blowing in doors a quarter of a mile away. The entire Maybeury hollow was ablaze in an inferno of burning coal, ash and oil. Precious cargo was scattered everywhere. Many local residents were to later delight in this....it is said. Bicycles, whisky, peanuts, tobacco products, canned pineapple, Vicks medicine, etc. Fifty-four year old engineer Willie Snead's mangled remains were not found until early the next day. Fireman Ezra McHaffa, who left two young children mourning in Bluefield, was burned beyond recognition. Incredibly, brakeman Ball still breathed but was mortally injured. He would die July 1st but, incredibly, not until after giving his story. Fire crews from Bramwell, Welch and Pocahontas, VA helped battle the flames with water from nearby Elkhorn Creek. Huge steam cranes took almost three weeks to clear the scrap steel and debris from the badly damaged overpass. Cause of the terrible wreck was never satisfactorily resolved. Attempts were made to place blame on a stowed away transient but no body was ever found. The official corporate explanation reads, " derailment off bridge # 861, resulting from excessive speed from closing of an angle-cock on a head-end by a transient, to render brakes on train inoperable from locomotive." Also killed in this disaster was CLARK MAXEY of the Cliff Yards Maxey family. Clark was walking up the hill under the trestle when Time Freight # 85 plunged onto him. The Maybeury wreck claimed four lives and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, millions in todays dollars. Doomed engine # 2092 was never rebuilt. Maybeury hollow smelled of the fumes for months. Some years later, early 1950's, the main line was rerouted over the Maybeury cut and the bridge dismantled. The foundations of the historic bridge remain but are hidden from view by trees and other vegetation. THE ABOVE IS FROM AN ARTICLE BY DR. STUART McGEHEE, ARCHIVIST EASTERN REGIONAL COAL ARCHIVES IN MEMORY OF Engineer - Willie Snead Fireman - Ezra McHaffa Brakeman - James C. Ball Pedestrian - Clark Maxey - Age 20 GOD BLESS THEM E-MAIL FROM EVAN McHAFFA "Hello, my name is Evan McHaffa. I would like to thank you for creating a site in memory of my great grandfather and others who died on that day in West Virginia. I'm sure that the families appreciate it." ~ EVAN McHAFFA ~ E-MAIL FROM LIBBIE McHAFFA VENTIQUATTRO "I am the great granddaughter of Ezra McHaffa.......Thank you for making such a wonderful website in honor of these men" ~ LIBBIE VENTIQUATTRO ~ FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE ~ ROBERT TED JONES Robert writes, "I am a very avid fan of Maybeury. I lived in the double house beside the restaurant and beer joint and almost beneath the trestle from 1935 until 1944 when we moved just up the street, just four houses from Pate Hale and Lacy. I left Maybeury when I went to college in 1952." "I can remember the train wreck because it set our house on fire and sent part of a grate from the engine through two walls in our house and lodged in the third wall. The porch was on fire and blocked both doors and my Uncle Elmer Weaver got us out through the bathroom window. Dad was at work at the Algoma Mine." Robert Ted Jones HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE Pam Fleming writes that Andrew William Austin, from Sandlick, Mercer County, West Virginia, was scheduled to be the engineer of doomed time freight # 85 but at the last moment he was assigned to another route. Andrew married Jeanette "Nettie" Kennedy and both are buried at the Smith Family Cemetery on Route 20. Andrew was the son of George Austin and Maggie Elizabeth Dudley. "Nettie" was the daughter of John Kennedy and Mary Stewart Kennedy. ANOTHER LITTLE HISTORICAL NOTE Most of the unsalvagable debris from the train wreck was hauled to nearby BARLOW HOLLOW and buried there. OWEN MAXWELL FRYE ~ RESCUE & RECOVERY Owen Frye, of Waynesboro, Virginia writes that his Father, Owen Maxwell Frye, responded to the call for help along with neighbor William "Bill" Coleman. Together they aided in the rescue and recovery effort. "Bill" Coleman was a pipe fitter for the N & W Railroad. Owen Maxwell Frye was born 1918 in Bluefield, Virginia and worked in and around coal mines most of his working days. Was living on Coaldale Mountain, Mercer County when he passed away at eighy-three years young. His son, also named Owen, was born 1947 in Bluefield, West Virginia.

Maybeury Elementary School photo courtesy ALEX SCHUST, McDowell County Historian, and JACK BARGER, creator of the ELKHORN HIGH SCHOOL website. SCHOOL PHOTO IS 1948

I have always wanted to walk the railroad from COOPERS to MAYBEURY. Wanted to relive the last moments of doomed TIME FREIGHT # 85 as she steamed across the COOPERS BRIDGE and through the COALDALE TUNNEL enroute to her rendezvous with destiny at the MAYBEURY BRIDGE. Now Mr. JACK TAYLOR has made that walk for me and given a guided tour via e-mail. Jack comes from a real railroading family. Jack, his sons and his father made railroading their career. I want to share that tour with all who may be interested.

N & W ELECTRIFICATION

Beginning in 1913, Norfolk & Western instituted a program to electrify a portion of its double-track mainline in the Pocahontas coal fields westward from Bluefield, West Virginia. By 1926, this had been extended to cover 52 route miles between Iaeger and Bluefield in order to increase the capacity of a section that included 2 percent grades and a cramped tunnel at the summit. The project was the first use of an AC-powered electric system in a heavy duty mountainous setting. As such it was widely copied in applications the world over. Electric power was supplied by a coal-fired power plant at Bluestone WV. The boxcab-style locomotives were initially built by a consortium of Baldwin-Westinghouse and later supplemented by improved models from Alco-Westinghouse. A line relocation and a new Elkhorn tunnel eliminated the need for the electrification in 1950.

BUDDY FRENCH EXPLORES MAYBEURY HISTORY E-mail message from Buddy French Diz, I don't have a lot on Maybeury, but here's what I've gathered so far. I've read that the community derived its name from Colonel A. J. May and William Beury, both early southern West Virginia coal operators. The Norfolk and Western railroad tunnel was completed through the mountain from Coopers to Maybeury in 1888. The Norfolk Coal and Coke Company was formed the same year and they built four different mines and tipples in and around Maybeury; the Norfolk, Lick-Branch, Angle and Delta operations. The Norfolk mine and tipple, the first to open, I think was located on the left hillside just above the current Shell gas station and began production in 1889. The Lick-Branch mine and tipple, the second operation, opened in 1890 and was located on the left side of the road as you are going down the road out of Maybeury, where the old baseball field used to be. The Angle mine, the third operation was opened in 1893 and was located on Rt. 52 at the upper end of Maybeury before you start up the mountain. The delta operation was built and ready to ship coal by 1896, but did not began production until 1901 and was on the other side of the road just a short distance up the hollow behind the old brick company store that was just recently torn down at Switchback. I know of three other coal companies also located in the Maybeury area. The Shamokin Coal and Coke Company had a tipple and mine on the right hillside above the Shell station, where the current Norfolk and Southern tracks are. Another mines, the Elkhorn Coal and Coke Company was also on that side just up the hollow. The Mill Creek Coal and Coke Company, which in later years bought the Elkhorn Colliery, had a mine up in the head of the hollow, Coaldale Colliery, at the old Community of Coaldale where the old (Elkhorn Tunnel) N&W railroad tunnel was. I think most of the locals referred to the Elkhorn Tunnel as the Coaldale Tunnel. The new Elkhorn Tunnel (or Bluestone Tunnel?) opened around 1950 and the railroad was relocated to its current location. The old community of Coaldale was torn down and relocated to the top of Blizzard Hill on Rt. 52. The Pocahontas Fuel Company bought out most all of these mines around Maybeury around 1917. The big white mansion house on the hill at the lower end of Maybeury or near Switchback was the home of James Elwood Jones, the superintendent of the Maybeury mines. He was the son of Jenkin Jones. BUDDY FRENCH In another e-mail Buddy has forwarded a beautiful photo of the MILL CREEK COAL & COKE COMPANY'S ELKHORN COLLIERY STORE and general area. Also included is information related to the ELKHORN COLLIERY provided by Buddy. Click on the link for the photo and info.

SWITCHBACK, WV MINE DISASTERS ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29TH,1908, AT SWITCHBACK, WEST VIRGINIA, SEVENTEEN MILES WEST OF BLUEFIELD, AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED IN THE LICK BRANCH MINE OF THE POCAHONTAS CONSOLIDATED COLLIERIES, INC., RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF FIFTY-ONE EMPLOYEES. OPERATIONS WERE RESUMED IN THE MINE ON JAN. 7, 1909, BY PERMISSION OF THE STATE MINE DEPARTMENT, AND ON TUESDAY, JAN. 12TH, ANOTHER EXPLOSION OCCURRED, CAUSING THE DESTRUCTION OF SIXTY-SIX MORE LIVES, MAKING A TOTAL OF ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN LOST IN THE TWO ACCIDENTS, ONLY TWO WEEKS APART. FORTY- EIGHT OF THOSE WHO PERISHED - 1908 Cleve Alexander ~ Reed Anderson Samuel Beatty ~ Elzy Blevins Thomas Blevins ~ David Colin Gregory Boresky ~ John Brown Nicholay Buschuke ~ Pinus Buschuke James Calloway ~ Pleas Canaday Green Davis ~ J. W. Edmondson Joe Edmunds ~ Zeff Estes Trofin Harasmuk ~ John Hicks Ab Holland ~ John A. Holland Thomas Howell ~ J. E. Johnson Charles Little ~ Wiley Little Jim Lockhart ~ Joe Lockhart Richard Lockhart ~ George Meaker John W. Miller ~ Luna Naumuk Joe Nizuk ~ Scott Page Toney Palmara ~ John W. Partin Aseny Parvolic ~ George Parvolic Peter Poles ~ Walter Reyonolds Jim Roan ~ Dominick Rose Kemp Sanders ~ Jim Smith Thomas Swain ~ Karp Tarrachuk Tobe Webber ~ Buck Williams Robert Williams ~ Mathew Webber FIFTY-SIX OF THOSE WHO PERISHED - 1909 Dan Arrington ~ Albert Abell James Ayers ~ Luther Boldin Henry Bowles ~ Floyd Bufflo Robert Bufflo ~ Elk Clark S. C. Clark ~ J. H. Cobbs Ed Collins ~ Lemuel Dean Will Durphey ~ George Enssey Walter Eversale ~ Walker Giles Jno. Hauge ~ Frank Hairston J. J. Hairston ~ Peter Heppenstall Con Holladay ~ Charles Howard John Hunter ~ Mel Hunter Tobe Hutcheson ~ Anthony Johnson A. R. Jones ~ Joe Jones Brown Lee ~ Henry Lee H. A. Leonard ~ John Mahony Bruce Man ~ Jim Martin Charles Weilsord ~ Henry Bolen Walter Martin ~ A. P. McDade Clarence Mitchell ~ John Mitchell A. R. Miller ~ Dowdy Miller Thomas Myers ~ George Peters Charles Phillips ~ Everett Phillips Mike Robinsky ~ Ed Rose Jno. Smith ~ Taylor Staples David Surratt ~ Riley Surratt Ernest Terry ~ Henry Waller Dan Watson ~ Robert Wyatt NAME LISTS BY DOLORES RIGGS DAVIS

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 1909 COLLERIES AT SWITCHBACK, W. VA., WHERE 51 WERE KILLED TWO WEEKS AGO, AGAIN WRECKED. FIRE HOLDS RESCUERS BACK. Inspectors Had Examined the Shaft and Had Pronounced It Safe -- 48 Bodies Taken Out. Special to The New York Times. Wheeling, West Va., Jan. 12 -- Headed by Chief Mine Inspector JOHN LAING and half a dozen Deputy Inspectors, a band of rescuers are battling with the flames to reach the innermost part of the Lick Branch Colliery of the Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company at Switchback, West Va., where 105 men were killed and a hundred more entombed by an explosion at 8:30 o'clock this morning. The explosion is believed to have been caused by the use of oil lamps by new miners, who were employed to take the places of the fifty-one who were killed in an explosion in the same mine on Dec. 28. More than 200 men working on the day shift had entered the mine, and 100 of these were in a working apart from the one where their companioins were killed. It was at first believed that these, too, had been killed, but a message late tonight to Gov. DAWSON from Inspector LAING said that there are hopes of saving most of them. The rescuers have a hard task before them, as the explosion caused hundreds of tons of slate and coal to fall, cutting off all escape. The shaft they are in is now on fire, and the entombed men are in danger of suffocation. Forty-eight bodies have already been recovered. Most of them are Americans, but in the confusion only three have been recognized. They are JOHN PAUL, mine boss; WILBUR HURLEY, and ELIAS SCOTT. All of the bodies were badly burned and identification of the men was made by means of effects upon their persons. The shock of the explosion shook houses for half a mile around and windows were blown out of many buildings. Mine Foreman BOWERS, who was near the entrance, was blown from his feet by the explosion, but managed to crawl out safely, as did also ROBERT SMITH, a miner. The main entry of the mine is four miles long, running from one side of the mountain to the other. Debris was blown from both entrances, which gives an idea of the tremendous force of the explosion. But the fans which furnish the fresh air for the workings, as in the former, explosion, were not disabled, and are forcing fresh air into the mines. A train was rushed from this city to the scene of the disaster, carrying bratticing and other material to be used in the work of exploration and rescue. The debris from the explosion of two weeks ago had not been cleared away and twenty men were engaged in this work. Nineteen contract miners with their crews were at work in a new entry, and it is feared that all of these men were lost. Two brothers named SURRATT of Speedwell, Va., who went to the mine at the time of the other explosion through curiosity and accepted positions, are in the mine. Bystanders at the time of the explosion say that immense clouds of soot and smoke gushed from the mine almost simultaneously with the detonation, and immediately were sucked back in enormous volumes into the mine. On the Tug River side, four miles from the main entrance, the smoke and flame gushed from the entry, burning the twigs and small limbs from trees that grew near. The damage to the mine cannot be estimated. The explosion was one of the most deadly that has ever occurred in this region. In 1884, at the Southwest Virginia Improvement Company's mine, 360 were killed in an explosion. To-day's horror is the most disastrous that has occurred since. On Dec. 28 an explosion occurred in this mine, which, up to that time, had been regarded as a model mine. On that occasion the cause of the explosion was not ascertained, and of the 51 victims the last body was brought to the surface only last Friday, after which the State mine inspectors declared that the mine was again safe and that work could be resumed. The majority of the miners who were engaged to resume work at the mine were Americans, with a few foreigners and some colored workers as laborers. Most of them were married and had families, and only recently moved to Switchback to go to work in the mines. It was stated that the mine was examined early to-day before the new shift went to work, and that it was reported to be perfectly safe. The Legislature now in session at Charlestown will institute a rigid investigation. The New York Times New York 1909-01-13

DECEMBER 1908 EXPLOSION - EARLY REPORTS GAS KILLS TWELVE W. VIRGINIA MINERS. EIGHTEEN ARE RESCUED FROM THE STIFLING FUMES OF A BLUEFIELD COLLIERY. (American Press Telegram) Bluefield, W. Va., Dec. 30. -- Twelve men are known to be dead and probably twenty-five more were entombed as the result of an explosion which occurred in the Lick Branch colliery, owned by the Pocahontas Consolidated Coal company, the largest coal mining concern in southwestern West Virginia. It is not known exactly how many men were in the mine at the time. The men leave the mine after what is known as the "run," and but few of the fifty-two at work were in the mine when the explosion occurred. Eighteen of the entombed men have been taken from the colliery alive. They had been stifled by the smoke and were not injured seriously enought to make their removal to a hospital necessary. The management of the property, it is claimed, had provided every device known to mining experience and science to insure safety, and it is thought that the trouble originated in an abandoned but connected working in the western division of the mine. The little town of Switchback, in which all of the miners who work in the colliery live, was wild with excitement when the news spread that an explosion had taken place, and from all of the neighboring collieries men hurried to the scene to aid in the work of rescue. The Coshocton Daily Times Ohio 1908-12-30 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SEVENTEEN KNOWN VICTIMS. SERIOUS COLLIERY DISASTER IN WEST VIRGINIA -- EXPLOSION IN THE LICK BRANCH MINE -- MANY ENTOMBED . Bluefields, W. Va., Dec. 29. -- Twelve men are known to be dead and probably twenty-five more entombed as the result of an explosion which occurred in the Lick Branch colliery, owned by the Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company, the largest coal mining concern in Southern West Virginia, at 3 o'clock this afternoon. It is not known exactly how many men were in the mine at the time. The men leave the mine after what is known as "run," and many of the fifty-two at work today were not in the mine when the explosion occurred. THE KNOWN DEAD ARE: HENRY LOCKHART, colored. RICHARD LOCKHART, colored. JAMES LOCKHART, colored. JOHN BROWN. JOHN MILLER. KEMP SANDERS. JAMES SMITH, colored. CHARLES LITTLE. W. T. LITTLE. CLERD ALEXANDER. PETER KENNEDY. Russian, name unknown. The three LOCKHARTS were brothers, as were also the two LITTLES. At midnight the rescuers reported that they had located five more bodies and it was believed there would not be any more corpses discovered in the mine. At 11 o'clock tonight eighteen of the entombed men had been taken out of the colliery alilve. They had been stifled by smoke and were not seriously injured enough to make their removal to a hospital necessary. Among those who managed to crawl out of the death pit was JOS. ESPEN, who is badly injured. State Mine Inspectors PHILLIPS, HENRY WARNER and GRADY, who were in the Tug River field, came to the scene of the explosion and took charge of the work of exploring the mine. The management of the mine, it is claimed, had provided every device known to mining experts and science to insure safety, and it is thought that the trouble originated in an abandoned but congested working in the western division of the mine. The little town of Switchback, in which all of the miners who worked in the colliery lived, was wild with excitement when the news spread that an accident had taken place, and from all the neighboring collieries men hurried to the scene to aid in the work of rescue. A special train bearing the officials of the company was sent from Pocahontas to the scene. The Galveston Daily News Texas 1908-12-30

MAYBEURY TRAIN WRECK 1937 - Photo furnished by Curtis Little and Todd Little whose ancestry dates back to the early days of the Maybeury and Barlow areas.

MAYBEURY, WEST VIRGINIA ~ 1907

DizHarris3@webtv.net E. L. Harris 1718 Hamilton St. Warren, OH 44485

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