Have you ever thought about Utah Lake? Utah itself, perhaps? I'm sure you never knew this about the lake, but in 1964, everything would change that fateful year. January 2nd, 1964. A passenger train from Salt Lake to St. George was headed towards Orem for a crew change after the prior conductor and engineer Rodney Curtis Torres and Alan James Marshall nearly fell asleep after passing South Jordan. The train consisted of a nearly abandoned Flying Scotsman locomotive the railway bought in 1959 modified by slightly rusty scraps, three passenger cars painted mostly silver with green finishes and a baggage car [which was really just a brown Canadian National boxcar]. On the other side of the state, a freight train being shunted by a MC [Mobile Caboose] from Palo Alto, California to Ogden, Utah was passing through Springville, Utah near 671 South, 170 West. The freight consisted of a blue hopper car, a dark green-yellow power car using diesel and coal, another brown Canadian National boxcar, two orange hopper cars and the red Mobile Caboose itself shunting. The passenger, known to locals as the Ute Night Owl [since it was 8:00 PM] was passing through American Fork, only a few miles away from their destination. The freight train stopped near Geneva region of Orem, a more barren, industrial area littered by gravel, machinery and strays. The driver of the MC, Everett Loveland Crown stepped out of the caboose, walking towards one of his long time buds, Kurtis Chichester McAuliffe. They had hung out for ten minutes, laughing at jokes, wincing at stories, and downing a beer or two. A ballast tamperer, painted reddish orange with a single blinking light passed by, the spikes at the front stabbing into the ballast rocks and occasionally crushing a rock or two. As Kurtis and Everett started dozing off, a high pitched whistle caught their attention. It was the Ute Night Owl, rapidly approaching. The dark green steam locomotive's conductor sounded the whistle rapidly, yelling inaudibly for the idle shunter to get out of the way! Everett sprinted towards the Mobile Caboose, trying to back it into a siding, but it was too late. Once the dust settled, it was a grisly and horrible sight. The Night Owl's front was caved in, and the left side was missing entirely. Its tender was sent into the nearby lake shore, coal jostling and tumbling down its metal sides by the waves. A passenger coach had telescoped into one of the sides of the fallen hoppers, and the other two behind it had jackknifed into eachother. The baggage car inbetween the first coach and the second had been torn to shreds, nothing left of it aside from a few wood scraps, its chassis and wheels. The destruction to the freight train was a little worse. The power car was set on fire near the Heathcliff Junction, smoke pouring out of the side vents as it blazed. The front of the first orange hopper car was caved in by the first coach, wood pieces hanging off and falling onto the ballast. The ballast tamperer nearby was crushed as well, destroyed entirely as its little red light blinked out for one final time, just like a life, flickering out as it was caught amidst a horrible disaster.
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