{"id":58120,"date":"2014-09-25T16:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T20:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=58120"},"modified":"2014-09-24T19:11:30","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T23:11:30","slug":"chapter-well-represented-at-great-chocolate-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=58120","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Well Represented at Great Chocolate Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN2658\"<\/a>Pictured is the chapter display at the Chocolate Festival in Hamilton Sept. 20.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Re-railing NYO&W FT No. 803-A after wreck in Hamilton in 1955.\"DSCN2655\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

By Richard Palmer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Hamilton, NY \u2013 Sept. 2014) The Central New York Chapter was well represented at the sixth annual Great Chocolate Festival in Hamilton Sept. 20. Chapter members assisting with the model railroad display included Albert, Joan and Phil Edwards, Tom Hancock, Tom Leo, Herb and Fran Meinking, Bob McNamara, Gus Nordone and Jeff Paston.<\/p>\n

The festival was created to memorialize a unique moment in both local and railroad history. On Sept. 27, 1955 a New York, Ontario & Western freight train ran through an open switch and ran through the Leland Coal Company trestle. No one was injured, but a box car loaded with chocolate products from the Nestle plant in Fulton spilled everywhere. Thereafter, it was remembered as \u201cThe Chocolate Wreck.\u201d At the time it was widely publicized.<\/p>\n

All the crewmen aboard the train, who became known as \u201cThe Flying Diesel Corps\u201d are now deceased. They included engineer Leslie Vidler, fireman Oliver Wrench; Fred Lewis, general road foreman; and Fred Jaycox, head brakeman. In a little less than two years, the much-fabled NYO&W was abandoned.<\/p>\n

In conjunction with this year\u2019s festival a historical marker was dedicated near the site of the wreck, under the auspices of the Village of Hamilton Historical Commission. The site was donated by Margaret and William Miller.<\/p>\n

Sept. 27, 1955<\/p>\n

It was a cold and rainy night in late September when the members of The Flying Diesel Corps rocketed into railroad history.\u00a0They were riding in the lead unit of FT diesel set 803A-803B, on a train designated as ON-2. The train included steel, lumber, furniture \u2013 and Nestle Crunch Bars, Nestles Quik and chocolate chips. The gentle curve at the Lebanon Street crossing kept the locomotive\u2019s headlight from hitting the reflector on the switchstand until the train was nearly abreast of it.<\/p>\n

Suddenly the reflector glared an angry red through the gloom.\u00a0The crew knew they were about to be diverted on to an inclined sidetrack \u2013 straight into the Leland Coal & Oil Company\u2019s elevated coal shed. Horrified, engineer Vidler \u201cwiped the clock,\u201d throwing the air brakes into emergency.\u00a0But the train\u2019s wet wheels slid over the rain-soaked rails as if they\u2019d been greased.\u00a0Train ON-2 thundered up the incline, its momentum carrying the train through the shed\u2019s door and on through the building in a series of deafening crashes.<\/p>\n

After a quick trip through the shed, the locomotive exploded out the back wall.\u00a0At that moment, The Flying Diesel Corps was born, as 213 tons of locomotives and the crew, went airborne.<\/p>\n

They landed in \u201cpieces\u201d in a field about 150 feet from the shed.\u00a0Semi-permanently coupled 803A-803B parted company when the drawbar snapped. The B-unit landed on its side, the A-unit miraculously bolt upright. Four of five of the cars that had followed them through the shed lay strewn about the field.<\/p>\n

Two of the old wooden \u201creefers\u201d (refrigerator cars) that the ON-2 had picked up at the Nestle Chocolate plant in Fulton, had split open, disgorging their chocolate bounty. Within a brief period of time, the chocolate contents of the cars completely disappeared. Some people even came down with wheelbarrows.<\/p>\n

A major clean-up followed, requiring the assistance of two wreck cranes. The cars containing the chocolate items were demolished. One also contained chocolate kisses from the Hersey plant in Oneida.\u00a0 It is said the proprietor of the local candy store went on vacation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictured is the chapter display at the Chocolate Festival in Hamilton Sept. 20. \u00a0Re-railing NYO&W FT No. 803-A after wreck in Hamilton in 1955. By Richard Palmer (Hamilton, NY \u2013 Sept. 2014) The Central New York Chapter was well represented at the sixth annual Great Chocolate Festival in Hamilton Sept. 20. Chapter members assisting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22367,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}