File:Doubs 1950 Train Wreck Tragedy.jpg

Summary

According to H. Walker Smith, son of the photographer:

A tragedy at Doubs. The main line of the B&O Railroad crosses Doubs Road on the lower East side of the town. Old timers like myself remember when Doubs had two crossings; one on Doubs Road and the other about 3/8 of a mile farther South on Bald Hill Road.

The crossing on Doubs Road had the usual "X" with "Railroad Crossing" on it until the late 1940's when an automatic crossing gate was installed. The crossing on Bald Hill Road had the "X" plus a crossing guard manned by a local B&O employee named "Nix" Brown. A shack was provided to rest between trains and stay out of bad weather.

One morning in February, 1950, a mail truck driven by Mr. Grover Shaff was struck by a Southbound freight train and Mr. Shaff was fatally injured. No one seems to know exactly what happened. Did he fail to see or hear the oncoming train? Did he see it too late? Did he try to beat the train? He was coming up the hill from Pleasant View Road and it's kind of a blind spot until you're almost on the tracks. If Mr. Brown, as he often did, was standing on the far side of the tracks with his stop sign, Mr. Shaff would not have seen him in time. Before the train could stop, it had pushed the small mail truck a couple of hundred yards down the track.

The crossing was closed shortly after the accident and two concrete barriers erected, one on each side of the tracks. They are there to this day.

(Photo by Walker L. Smith of Doubs courtesy of Frederick Maryland Old Photos)