70 years later, train wreck's cause shrouded in mystery

Aug. 12 marked the 70th anniversary of Nevada's most catastrophic train wreck. At about 9:30 p.m. on that date in 1939, the westbound streamliner "City of San Francisco" derailed in Palisade Canyon, 15 miles southwest of Carlin in northeastern Nevada.

During the crash, five of the 14 train cars and a railroad bridge spanning the Humboldt River were demolished. Twenty-four passengers and crewmen died as a result, and more than 60 people were injured.

Immediately following the derailment, the Southern Pacific Railroad faced several challenging tasks at the site, in addition to rescuing the injured and recovering the dead. Those tasks included laying new ties and rail atop a steep-sided fill, removing the derailed train cars and former bridge components, and constructing a temporary new bridge across the river.

To accomplish all of this, the company assembled an array of men and equipment from rail centers both east and west of the wreck scene.

The contingent from Sparks included Rudolph Ceragioli's father Guido, a 49-year-old car repair specialist. Rudy, who was 14 at the time and now lives in Carson City, remembers that event

"My dad was at the wreck site for a couple of weeks. They lived in bunk cars that composed part of the wrecking crew train. ... By the time the crew from Sparks arrived ... most of the dead and all of the injured had been removed."

But the Sparks workers "did find some bodies in the wreckage."

Formal evaluations and deliberations began soon after the wreck. A coroner's jury convened in Elko the next day, Aug. 13, and a Southern Pacific board of inquiry hearing commenced at Carlin on the 19th. About four months later, the Interstate Commerce Commission released a detailed formal report that was based on its own independent investigations as well as testimony at the hearing.

Both of those inquests and the published ICC document concluded that the crash was due to malicious sabotage, rather than excessive train speed, equipment malfunction or faulty track maintenance.

Additional support for the sabotage finding emerged almost 19 months after the derailment. On March 3, 1941, Judge A. F. St. Sure of the Federal District Court in San Francisco ruled on behalf of defendant Southern Pacific in response to a damage suit by Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Wallar, who had been passengers on the ill-fated train.

The Wallars alleged that the evidence of an intentional derailment had been manufactured by Southern Pacific employees. In response, Judge St. Sure cited a detailed investigation by the FBI and said, regarding the Wallars' claim, that "A suggestion so incredible cannot be sustained against the indisputable physical facts and testimony of unimpeached witnesses to the contrary."

The judge's decision set a clear precedent for other damage suits that were pending at the time. In fact, he also ordered the Wallars to pay the court costs.

Southern Pacific pursued a lengthy attempt to identify and prosecute the alleged sabotage culprit (or culprits). Reportedly, thousands of people were interviewed and many dozens of suspects were detained, questioned and released. But no one was ever brought to trial.

Although the Federal Court, ICC, and Southern Pacific concluded that the catastrophic derailment in Palisade Canyon was caused by malicious tampering, other people were convinced, instead, that the railroad had attempted to protect itself from potential lawsuits by immediately covering up a serious operational problem.

Among the present-day proponents of a cover-up is Ray H. State, a railroad accident expert from Nottingham, England. To State, the evidence implies that a track maintenance problem was the cause, rather than premeditated sabotage. Because that problem may have been the result of employee negligence, it thus could have provided the motivation for a cover-up.

Almost 30 years ago, in 1980, an article by Howard Hickson of Elko regarding the train wreck was published in the Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. Near the end of his article, Hickson said that, "There will always be a big if casting suspicion and doubt on the true cause. If someone had been arrested, charged and convicted, perhaps the controversy would not exist. There are still so many unanswered questions."

That statement remains true today, seven decades after Nevada's worst railroad disaster.