AN EXPLOSION IN CRAWFORD NOTCH
# 505 July 3, 1927
Sunday July 3 dawned hot and muggy, a change from the night before when a terrific thunderstorm had past over Bartlett. It was about 7:00 a.m. when
MEC Bartlett men Robert "Bob" Morse and Oscar Clemons got a call from Mr. Glendenon at the Roundhouse in Bartlett asking them to report to work, they would take a long extra freight to St. Johnsbury and return with the locomotive. Earle Whitcher and Fireman Meserve would be on the helper and return to Bartlett after the train reached Crawford’s Station. Oscar and Bob were friends and had worked together before.

Oscar was having a hard time because he had lost his wife Delia a month before,
leaving him the sole support of 7 children. Bob and Oscar arrived at the Roundhouse at about the same time, to find Engineer Whitcher and his fireman
working on the main engine, the one that would be on the head end to St.J. After talking it was decided that they would swap assignments, so Bob, the engineer and Oscar, the fireman, would be on the helper and return to Bartlett after they reached Crawford’s, so they made plans to go fishing together that day. There was only one locomotive available as a helper, a small, class W Mikado, built by Alco in Schenectady, NY in 1910, her number #505. The 505 had come in on the local Rigby to Bartlett job the day before, she was taken to the Roundhouse and serviced. The 505 was not a favorite, it would be called today, a lemon. Out of all the steam locomotives the MEC ever owned, the 505 was one of the very, very few, that never measured up. Bob and Oscar boarded the 505 and began their work, helping to sort cars and make up the train. A short time later Bob reported
a problem to the mechanics at the roundhouse: when he pulled the throttle out, it felt "Spongy" and not right. The mechanics examined the locomotive and found nothing. Bob and Oscar continued their work, but the problem persisted. The mechanics brought it into the roundhouse and did everything but strip the boiler jacket off, which they were not equipped to do anyway, they could find nothing. Finally, the time came where it was time to go, the 505 and her crew were put in the freight as a helper, almost midtrain, and they departed Bartlett at about 10:00
A.M. A common thing that was done with a lot of engineers in that era was they ran the water in the boiler of the locomotive low, this allowed the maximum performance to be obtained from the locomotive, but you had to have a fireman that could handle it. Oscar Clemons, having worked with Bob before, knew how to do this perfectly, by the timing of the water injections into the boiler  and by a constant eye on the sight glass which showed the amount of water in the boiler. The 505 was a small class locomotive, which were very rarely used as helpers, due to their small size. The Class W's were almost exclusively used east of Bartlett. This trip for the 505 was a very rare run.

An hour had passed, the 505 was now under  maximum pressure, Oscar Clemons shoveling coal and watching the sight glass. They were approaching the Willey House Section Dwelling, the section crew, having the day off, waved as they
went by. Doris Monahan, home for a break was watching the train pass by with a friend on an outcropping where they were going up the Appalachian trail for a hike.  The Train now rounded a curve and reached a relatively level piece of track, about 1/2 mile above the Willey Station, Oscar reached up and opened the petcock to put some water in the boiler,  a few seconds later, the locomotive exploded.  The force was so great it lifted the locomotive clean out of the train, not even derailing the car behind it, it spun end over end and dropped and landed 20 feet over the bank. Bob Morse was blown 500 ft, the crew from the Willey House
found him crawling towards a brook. One of them said "Can I or Let me Help you Bob" Bob replied never mind about me, I know I'm done for, go check on Oscar. They found Oscar, trapped in the wreckage of the cab. Both men were rushed to
memorial hospital, they both passed away at about the same time, near 6:00 P.M. from scalding.

Oscar Left 7 children*, most were adopted by other family members, his youngest son George, an infant at the time, and I met him on the Conway Scenic’s Ride through Crawford Notch. He commissioned a memorial to Oscar and Bob,
placed at the site of the explosion. Bob left 8 children behind, Mrs. Morse would go on to remarry.        Monte Hurd, A MEC Veteran Conductor.

The investigation into the 505 accident showed that the sight glass Oscar needed to use to tell the level of water in the boiler was defective, also, the Spongy" feel Bob felt was a weakness in the boiler.  When the water was put into the low boiler, the metal failed, just under one of the axles, hurling the locomotive 80 feet in the air, and sending a metal pail; used for drinking water, over a mile away in the woods. Further investigation would show that the 505 was reported 5 times that previous month as having a leaky boiler, and several years before while in service it burst a boiler tube.

The entire town turned out for the funerals of Bob Morse and Oscar Clemons, held on Wednesday. It is easy to forget these men were the test pilots of their age. The were respected and loved for their profession, and as people themselves. They rest today not far from each other in the Bartlett Cemetery, the new memorial on the site, will remind folks of a different time, and of two men, husbands, fathers, workers and Bartlett townsfolk who passed into history, but now will not be forgotten.

This version was printed in our publication, The Historical Herald, March 2008


*Sept 2009: Web site Editors Note:  I received an e-mail from Brian Clemons in Lyman Maine.  Brian is Oscar's Grandson.  He reported that Oscar had 8 Children, Not 7.

Jan 2008, From the Railroad Club:

The remains of what was Maine Central Steam Locomotive #505 are located in the general area of MILEPOST 80 which is " WEST " of the Frankenstien Trestle. The marker is located at or very near the exact location wher the boiler let go as best be determined by a dedicated bunch of people that enabled some sort of closure take place as to what occured back on that fateful day during the month of July 1927. The marker was created by the efforts of the North Conway Model Railroad Club who are located on the grounds of CSRR. The Club membere designed/created and erected a large marker and placed it track -side where the wreck occured. Please respect the area as sacred ground in memory of good railroad men who lost their lives performing their duties and that will be a very good disdpay of respect for their relatives who live on with those memories for all time to come.