Good finds, Mark and Rotor. I thought the freight was stationary but it's hard to tell in wreck photos without an overview of the whole scene. I wonder how #82 could not have seen that freight train on the same track? Seems like a flat and straight track for quite a distance before the wreck scene and it would have been full daylight at the time of the wreck. The report doesn't mention any adverse weather conditions.
From the new pictures, I can now see the freight had three units. The force of the collision must have been transferred directly through the locomotive frames with no visible damage. It looks like the two damaged freight cars are at least five cars back in the train while the rest of the cars around them look fine. This would seem to be incredible until you look at the first car damaged. It's a farly old 40' box car with Bettendorf trucks. These trucks were not secured to the car - the weight of the box car is what kept them in place. The modern cars in front had better truck to car connections. As soon as the force of the collision hit the boxcar, it was launched off its trucks and into the grain hopper. You can see that the grain hopper, (which was almost new at the time), even though it sufffered extreme damage, is still attached to the trucks. I guess this wreck is a good illustration why the AAR changed the rules to mandate positive connections between the trucks and the bolsters and car frames.
