Rail Accident at Big Bayou Canot

Dense fog, a navigational error and a maintenance delay, led to the deadliest accident in Amtrak's history.

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Transcript

Transcript

All Available Units, Respond - An independent podcast produced, researched, written, recorded, edited, and hosted by Holly.

Episode 1 - Big Bayou Canot Rail Accident 

Dense fog, a navigational error and a maintenance delay, led to the deadliest accident in Amtrak's history.

Released: Thursday, October 13th, 2022

Don’t be alarmed; the sirens you are about to hear are not real. 

[Emergency vehicle sirens and helicopter noise]

Hey there. Welcome to my new podcast: All Available Units, Respond! I really love that you’re here with me. I also have another podcast you can check out, it’s called; “Tell Me a True Crime Story”. I wanted to start another podcast, this one, because there are lots of interesting stories that made an impact on me that I want to tell you, but they didn’t exactly fit into the true crime genre. So, let’s get into this first episode of “All Available Units, Respond”. I don’t know about you guys, but I love trains and I love the sound of a train. I have a train story for you today. I first heard this story many years ago, and it has stuck with me since. 

[Train horn blaring]

On September 22, 1993, at 12:55 am, Willie Odom, piloting a towboat named Mauvilla, left a wharf in Mobile, Alabama, headed upriver to Tuscaloosa, then on to Birmingham, a total of about 350 miles. Willie Odom steered Mauvilla northward on the Mobile River, into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, carrying coal and raw iron. Onboard the Mauvilla, with Willie Odom, was the captain, Andrew Stabler, and two deckhands. The towboat, Mauvilla, was owned by Warrior and Gulf Navigation Company, and was pushing six fully loaded barges, in two rows, with three barges in each row. The Mauvilla, and its six unpowered barges altogether measured 490 feet long and 105 feet wide. So, just for reference, a football field is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. So, this towboat, with the barges, measures a lot longer than a football field, and just a little bit less wide than a football field. So, it’s a really big load. [Slight laugh] Longer than a football field…

So, a dense fog quickly set in, which is known to happen frequently there in the Mobile River Basin. This area is referred to as “America’s Amazon”. A FEMA incident report on this accident stated, “Fog in the region is notorious for its thickness and the speed with which it descends on the river.” The fog was so thick, it reduced visibility to almost nothing. Michael Wilson, a reporter for The Seattle Times described it like this, “The fog grew thicker as he made his way up the Bayou Sara. Soon Odom was driving blind in what pilots call a "shutout fog”." Willie Odom could not even see the head of his tow. He was attempting to find a place to tie off to shore, and wait for the fog to lift, when he unknowingly turned off into Big Bayou Canot. He’d evidently missed the reflective dayboard marker sign in the fog. A dayboard is a fixed aid to navigation sign for mariners, and this sign would have indicated to Odom to stay to the right to stay on the Mobile River. To get onto the Big Bayou Canot, Odom would’ve had to turn his tow to the left. He thought the turn to the left that he’d made was the left turn that the Mobile River makes after mile marker 12. But, that left turn in the Mobile River was still ahead of where he was now, about three or so nautical miles further up the river. The Mauvilla did not have maps or a compass on board, which was perfectly legal at the time. However, the Mauvilla did have radar, but Odom was not properly trained in reading the boat’s radar. Mauvilla is now mistakenly on Big Bayou Canot. Big Bayou Canot is narrow, only about 300 feet wide. It’s a non-navigable sidearm tributary off of the winding Mobile River, and not open to barge traffic. This area is about nine nautical miles north of the mouth of the Mobile River. At 2:45am, the Mauvilla struck something. Willie Odom thought they’d run aground. The bump woke Captain Stabler, who’d been sleeping. He joined the rest of the small crew on the deck. About five to ten minutes after they’d heard and felt the bump, there suddenly came a “shhooooo” sound, and a blaze of fire erupted! They were closer now to whatever they’d struck and, through the thick fog, they could barely make out a bridge... 

Three days earlier, on Sunday, September 19, 1993, at approximately 10:50pm, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited No. 2 began its journey in Los Angeles, California, headed eastbound. According to Amtrak's website, “The Sunset Limited is the oldest named train in the United States still operating, having held the name since its inauguration in 1894. The Sunset Limited was Southern Pacific's premier train, built for luxury first-class, long-distance travel. From early 1993 to late August 2005, it made the transcontinental run from Los Angeles through to Miami.” Sunset Limited No. 1 ran the east to west route, from Miami to LA. Sunset Limited No. 2 ran the west to east route, from LA to Miami. On its 3-day, cross-country route, The Sunset Limited No. 2 passed through 8 states: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The Sunset Limited No. 2 was powered by three diesel locomotives in the front, Lead Locomotive #819, which contained the train’s data recorder, or “black box”. The 2nd Locomotive #262, and the 3rd Locomotive #312, were followed by eight other train cars. After the 3rd locomotive, the 4th car was Baggage Car #1139. The 5th car was Crew Dorm #39908, which is a 2-level car with crew bunks and seating for 40 people on its upper level, and crew lounges and bathrooms on the lower level. The 6th, 7th and 8th cars were Superliner Coaches #34083, #34068 and #34040. These three Superliner Coach cars were two levels, and seated 75 passengers each. The 9th car was Superliner Lounge #39973, a 2-level car with casual seating, tables and bar space for 68 passengers. Car #10 was Superliner Diner #38030. It was a 2-level car with a 72-passenger dining area on the upper level, and a food preparation area on the lower level. The 11th and last train car was Superliner Sleeper #32067. It was a 2-level car with sleeping quarters and private rooms. 

It is now the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, September 22, 1993. This is the Sunset Limited’s 3rd, and final day of travel for this run. As you know, the Sunset Limited No. 2 began its journey in L.A., 3 days earlier. Its final destination on this 3,066-mile, transcontinental journey was Miami, Florida. At 2:34am the train pulled out of the Mobile, Alabama train station. It was running 34 minutes behind schedule, because a toilet and an air conditioning unit had been repaired a few hours earlier, in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of its regularly scheduled stops. Leaving the city behind, the Sunset Limited was soon smoothly clickety-clacking down the track at 72 miles an hour as it approached the swampy Mobile River Delta. It was carrying 220 people, 202 passengers, and 18 crew members. Most of its passengers were sleeping. At about 2:50am, the Sunset Limited had green lights at a signal post it passed, as it made a turn to the northeast and approached an unlit bridge that spanned Big Bayou Canot. The Big Bayou Canot bridge, owned and maintained by CSX Transportation, was nearly 500 feet long, comprised of three separate sections. It was built in 1909 out of wood, steel and concrete. It was originally a swing span bridge that was designed for the middle section to pivot on a center axis, to allow boats to pass through. However, in 1942, the 140-foot center section of the Big Bayou Canot bridge was fixed into a permanent position. 1.77 miles past the green signal lights, at approximately 2:53am, the lead locomotive struck a displaced steel bridge girder, and a kink in the track, at milepost 656.7. The impact caused the first seven train cars to derail into the bayou. Lead locomotive #819 was sent careening, nose first, and buried itself into 46 feet of mud at a 30 degree angle. According to an NTSB accident report, the part that remained sticking out of the mud caught fire. The 2nd locomotive, #262, slammed into the wreckage of lead locomotive #819, and caught fire too. The diesel fuel tank of the 3rd locomotive, #312, separated from it. Diesel fuel poured out and the fuel was ablaze on top of the water. The fire was the only light source, and illuminated the harrowing scene. All of the equipment under the bottom of the 3rd car, below the frame, including the wheels, was sheared off. All three locomotives came to rest on the east side of the bayou. The 4th car, Baggage Car #1139, and the 5th car, Crew Dorm #39908 were totally gutted by fire and had sustained major structural damage. The 6th train car, double-decker Superliner Coach #34083 was halfway submerged in the water and ended up resting partway on the bridge after the accident. The 7th train car, double-decker Superliner coach #34068 was almost totally submerged in water. The 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th train cars remained on the track, with the 8th one dangling almost halfway off of what was left of the bridge. The Sunset Limited No. 2, with 220 souls on board, had just derailed and caught fire in a remote, heavily wooded swampland, not accessible by vehicle. 

At about 2:56am, the Assistant Conductor on the Sunset Limited used the railroad-designated radio to make a, “Mayday! Mayday!”, transmission. CSX Transportation freight train #579 heard this transmission, where it was waiting at milepost 660.4. Their crew repeated the Mayday call to the yardmaster at the CSX Sibert Yard in Mobile. At 2:57am, the yardmaster notified the train dispatcher in Jacksonville, Florida of the train’s derailment and mayday transmission. At 3:00am, the yardmaster also notified the 911 operator at the Mobile Police Department. The engineer of the CSX freight train #579 also called the Jacksonville train dispatcher about the mayday transmission. About 3.2 miles north of the accident site, the bridge tender at the Mobile River Bridge heard the Sunset Limited’s mayday call too, and contacted the train dispatcher in Jacksonville to report that the Sunset Limited was transmitting a mayday call. The Jacksonville train dispatcher immediately tried to contact the Sunset Limited, but was unsuccessful. 

The 911 operator at the Mobile Police Department contacted the Mobile Fire Department and the Coast Guard. At 3:05am, an OnBoard Services Supervisor from the Sunset Limited contacted Mobile’s 911 on a cell phone, and attempted to give officials additional information on their whereabouts. However, they were unsure of their exact location. For nearly 20 minutes, 911 operators from several different local jurisdictions tried to locate the accident site. Emergency responders searched by land for the accident site, but no roads led to the area. At first, they did not realize that it was only accessible by water or rail. 

At approximately 3am, an operator on another towboat in the Mobile River that morning, the Scott Pride, had overheard radio transmissions about the derailment from bridge tenders near his location by the Chickasaw Creek railroad bridge. After confirming with the Chickasaw Creek railroad bridge tender that there had indeed been a train accident, he proceeded up the river. He arrived at the accident site at about 4am.

Captain Andrew Stabler of the Mauvilla was concerned about the situation with the tow and barges. The starboard winch wire was broken. The port side string of barges were drifting toward the stern of the boat. Mauvilla was boxed in, unable to move, by the barges that had drifted about 80 feet aft on the port side, and the bank of the bayou on the starboard side. At 3:05am, Captain Stabler used VHF/FM Channel 16 to broadcast a mayday call. The radio transmission was received by the US Coast Guard in Mobile. At 3:06am, the Coast Guard responded and asked their position. Stabler tried to relay their position. The Coast Guard told them that a train had derailed. Captain Stabler replied, "I believe we're right below the train. They's a helluva fire up here in the middle of the river and there ain't supposed to be no fire up here and, like I say, I don't know exactly where we at. It's so foggy I can't tell, by looking on the radar, so there's something bad wrong up here." The captain then relayed to the Coast Guard that he was going to try to maneuver away from the barges and see if they could go to offer help. Captain Stabler ordered the deckhands on the Mauvilla to release the towboat from the barges that remained. He was able to free the towboat from the bank and then pushed all six barges into the northeast bank. The deckhands put the Mauvilla’s skiff into the water, and one of the deckhands rowed to people in the water and helped them aboard the skiff. He went back and forth rescuing people several times. At 3:19am, Captain Stabler radioed the Coast Guard to advise them that he had his barges under control and that he was going to proceed to the wreckage site to try and render aid. He then piloted Mauvilla toward the fire. When he neared the fire, he was forced to back his towboat away, because massive smoke from the burning diesel and wreckage was filling his wheelhouse. At 3:25am Captain Stabler called the Coast Guard from the Mauvilla to report that, “...The bridge is open, the train has run off of it, and it’s burning.” Soon, Captain Stabler saw that his six loaded barges had slipped off of the bank and were again afloat in the water, drifting toward the wrecked bridge. He returned to push them into the bank again, and then went back to the wreckage site to rescue survivors from the water.

Meanwhile, surviving OnBoard Supervisors and OnBoard Crew Members of Amtrak,  began evacuating passengers on the train cars that remained on the bridge. The Assistant Conductor directed another surviving Amtrak mechanical employee to set up a “relay team” to help the weak swimmers, non-swimmers, or the elderly out of the water. Passengers who could swim spaced themselves about 20 yards apart. They would take a rescued passenger from a submerged train car, and swim them to the next swimmer, and so forth, until the relay team got them all safely to the banks of the bayou. 

The murky waters of the bayou filled some sections of train cars in seconds. This left a very short time for those passengers to escape. Some passengers were hopelessly trapped in the wreckage. Train cars went dark as they became submerged in water. This complicated the evacuation for the shocked, disoriented and injured passengers. It was extremely difficult to locate and move toward the exits. Since many of the crewmembers had been asleep in the Crew Dorm coach car, passengers were left to fend for themselves and make decisions on their own. However, some passengers took charge, and helped others out to safety. 

The crew of the Mauvilla rescued 17 people from the water. The crew of the towboat, the Scott Pride, rescued 20 people from the water. The fireboat of the Mobile Fire Department, called the Ramona Doyle, had to rely on radar to reach the crash site because the fog was so dense. Upon its arrival to the site, the crew aboard the Ramona Doyle began to fight the blaze, since survivors in the water had already been rescued by the brave towboat crewmen of the Mauvilla and the Scott Pride.

Around 3:20am, the Coast Guard was on their way to the accident site in a 19-foot, rigid-hull inflatable boat. At 3:24am, the Coast Guard broadcast an “Urgent Marine Information Broadcast” requesting any boaters in the area to assist if possible for an Amtrak train derailment, with people in the water. At 4:25am, the Coast Guard’s rigid-hull inflatable boat arrived at the scene. While enroute to the scene, their boat had encountered such dense patches of fog, at times, that they could not see the bow of their boat. The glow of the fire from the wreckage helped first responders locate the accident site. 

The Coast Guard also launched helicopters from the New Orleans Search and Rescue Unit. The Coast Guard helicopters arrived on scene at around 5:20am.

Triage areas were set up at the Scott Paper Company pier in Chickasaw. Other survivors were taken to five local hospitals for treatment, or taken to hotels, if they were uninjured.

By 5:25am, emergency medical personnel ascertained that there were no more survivors. The operation moved from rescue mode, into recovery mode.

Dive teams from the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Flotilla, the US Marine Corps, and even the state bridge inspections diving team worked to remove bodies from the train cars. A temporary morgue was set up on scene.

62 people were uninjured and 111 people were injured. 47 people lost their lives that day. According to the Medical Examiner in Mobile, 42 passengers died from asphyxia due to drowning. One engineer and two assistant engineers in the lead locomotive that filled with mud, died from asphyxia and blunt force trauma. Two OnBoard Services crewmembers died from smoke inhalation. They’d been in the Crew Dorm coach that caught fire.

By Saturday, September 24, 1993, all recovery efforts and removal of wreckage was complete at the crash site. CSX repaired the bridge and rail traffic resumed seven days following the accident.

Why did the Sunset Limited pass through a green signal, indicating clear to proceed, 1.77 miles before the derailment? This is because when the barge struck the bridge, it had only kinked the track, and did not cause a break in it. Had it caused a break in the track, the track-interruption sensors would’ve been tripped, and a TCS signal control board in Jacksonville, Florida would’ve indicated that to the train dispatcher there. He would’ve sounded the alarm, and maybe this awful accident could have been averted. Mauvilla’s barge struck the bridge at 2:45am, and the Sunset Limited derailed eight minutes later at 2:53am. This could’ve been enough time for the Sunset Limited to stop before it reached the damaged bridge, if they’d been notified of a problem immediately.

Also, remember the 34-minute maintenance delay in New Orleans, caused by the repair of a broken toilet and an air conditioning unit? Had the Sunset Limited not experienced that delay, it would’ve safely passed over the Big Bayou Canot bridge about 24 minutes before the Mauvilla’s barge hit the bridge and damaged it. 

The agencies involved in response to this emergency included:  The United States Coast Guard, the United States Marine Corps, Mobile Fire Department, Daphne Volunteer Fire Department, Mobile Police Department, Mobile County Sheriff’s Flotilla, Mobile County Sheriffs Department, Prichard Fire Department, Saraland Fire Department, Saraland Police Department, Chickasaw Fire Department, Chickasaw Police Department, Creola Fire Department, Creola Police Department, Mount Vernon Fire Department, and the Mount Vernon Police Department. And there were probably more. These were the ones that I found in my research. 

A memorial was erected at the crash site that reads:  “The Wreck of the Sunset Limited, Bayou Canot, Mobile, Alabama, September 22, 1993. This monument is dedicated to the memory of the 42 passengers and 5 crewmen who died in the tragic accident of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which derailed at this spot at 2:53 am on September 22, 1993, after the bridge was knocked out of alignment by a towboat and its barges. It stands in tribute to the courage of those passengers and crew members whose actions helped save the lives of others aboard the train. It recognizes the compassion and determination of hundreds of emergency response and rescue personnel who came to the aid of the victims. It also salutes those dedicated employees of CSX Transportation who rebuilt this bridge and restored train traffic in 7 days. May this monument forever remind us of our responsibilities to our fellow man in the routine of our daily work and in the extraordinary events that shape our lives.”

So, in closing, I just want to say that I know America has its problems, but stories like this make me very proud. This horrible accident required a massive emergency response and the collective genius of mechanics, engineers, designers, first responders, builders, and laborers, and others, to safely carry out all of the duties required by this catastrophe, and in its aftermath. I’m proud to be an American, where people come together, especially in times of need and tragedy, to help each other, sacrificing their own time and safety.

Thank you so much for listening to this podcast: All Available Units, Respond. I really and truly appreciate it. I also have another podcast that I want you to check out; it’s called, Tell Me a True Crime Story. Please subscribe to both of these, so you won’t miss any episodes. And tune in next week, right here, for Episode 2 of All Available Units, Respond. Thank you. Take care. Hugs to all of you. Bye, bye.

[Emergency vehicle sirens and helicopter noise]