Westbound trains were running Into Syracuse about 45 minutes late Last night as a result of derailment of two freight trains at Fonda that blocked the New York Central railroad four-track main Line. Douglas Sheldon, 53, of 219 W. Irving St., East Syracuse, engineer of an eastbound train involved in the collision, was treated for a hand injury at St. Mary's, Amsterdam. According to the Associated Press. ...and then Don sez: My grandfather was a very important person in my life. He and my grandmother raised me from about the age of 5 and I was around railroading basically my whole life. ...and now the photo: As you can see by the photo, he continued work on the railroad well into the diesel age as a passenger engineer. The injury he sustained was a crushed right hand but was able to recover almost 100% use of it. He finally retired in 1964 at the age of 70. Shortly after that he went to work as a desk clerk at the RRYMCA in E. Syracuse so he could keep up with what was going on. Like many his age, he just couldn't stop doing something. Don Relyea collection
Roger, thanks for that, back on the Mohawk Division. I think we had some posts on here in the past about that accident in Fonda. If Mr. Sheldon was 53 when the accident happened and he retired at age 70 in 1964, then the accident must have happened in 1947. I sure don't remember hearing anything about it back then, living not far from Fonda, but I was only 7 years old. In any event, the railroaders were tough, and Mr. Sheldon was too, continuing to work after age 70.
Stories like this may be brief, but they hold a certain fascination for me. Always interesting reading.
