Looking Back

By James Rada, Jr.

Train Goes Into Owens Creek at Christmas

As Christmas approached in 1966, people were thinking about gifts that needed to be bought for friends and family and plans for how to spend the holidays.

Shortly after noon on December 20, a 44-car Western Maryland Railway train traveling from Hagerstown to Baltimore partially derailed about a half mile east of Graceham next to Owens Creek.

Eighteen of the rail cars derailed in addition to the engine, which was the newest engine on the Western Maryland Railway. The derailed cars included: five cars carrying 10,000 gallons each of liquid asphalt, two cars each carrying 15 new automobiles, two flatcars carrying rolls of cable, a flatcar carrying plywood, and eight empty railcars.

“The remainder of the 44-car train was taken back to Baltimore yesterday morning as were two lead locomotives in which the four-man crew was riding,” according to the Frederick News Post.

The damages were initially estimated at $200,000 (around $2 million in today’s dollars). That number jumped to more than $500,000 (around $5 million in today’s dollars) by the next day, and that was said to be a conservative estimate.

Luckily, no injuries were reported.

Also, no one in Graceham, which would have had fewer than 200 people living in at the time, did not suffer any problems other than avoiding the creek. No buildings, especially the historic Graceham Moravian Church, located just a short distance from the rail tracks, were damaged. It is likely that the Graceham Volunteer Fire Company, which had been incorporated in 1960, was probably one of the earliest responders on the scene, trying to address the leaking railcars and making sure no fires broke out.

A big cause for concern was that rail cars were leaking chemicals into Owens Creek. “It caused railroad officials to ask area farmers to stop watering their stock in the stream because of the pollution caused by the dumping of liquid asphalt and diesel fuel by the upset cars,” the Frederick News Post reported.

While local farmers quickly responded to the warning, officials worried that livestock further downstream might still get sick or even die.

Salvage equipment was brought in from Baltimore, Cumberland, and Hagerstown at rail traffic was rerouted into Pennsylvania to go around Frederick County. The cleanup took about four days.

The investigation into the cause of the derailment couldn’t find a cause. However, Northern Frederick County had been hit with seven inches of snow during the morning. This could have created a problem on the tracks, but it is speculation.

Views of the 1966 Graceham Western Maryland Railway derailment.