I remember hearing this freight train passing through Dublin early morning in December of 1972. It sounded normal then the sound got louder and louder. It was followed by an eerie silence. It turns out thirteen cars of a 79 car south bound Santa Fe freight train derailed about 5:15 AM on December 23, 1972. Leslie Billingsley was heading out to milk cows and he was waiting for the train to pass. He noticed that sparks were shooting high in the air from one of the cars. That car and others soon left the tracks.
A hopper carrying 60 tons of concrete fell on its side and with the momentum from its load, knocked down the northeast corner of the Dublin Santa Fe Station.
Billingsley, was a member of the Dublin Fire Department and after he got over the shock of what he had witnessed, immediately went to the fire hall and got a fire truck and drove it to the accident scene in case of fire. Firemen notified the local Santa Fe agent Ermon Hatley of the accident and requested the log of the train. They learned that only four cars were loaded. Those cars were loaded with bulk cement and cotton bale ties. (Dublin Progress, December 28, 1972) The Santa Fe repair crews were on the scene by 7:00 AM. With the help from two large bulldozers and two 160 ton railroad cranes, cleanup began. Salvage trucks from Justin, Texas unloaded the hopper cars filled with cement.
The accident completely blocked Highway 6. The wrecked cars were slowly moved out of the way by the cranes. Traffic was open by 9:30 AM. The Dublin firemen then directed traffic through the scene.
I asked one of the Santa Fe officials if the train station could be saved. He said that if the station remained standing when the car was pulled out it might be repaired. The next day the hopper was pulled out of the building, but the weight from the heavy Spanish tile roof caused it to collapse.
Ten cars, the depot, signals and track were destroyed in the accident. An early wood frame train station was originally built there by the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad in December of 1889. It was replaced by the well known Frisco red brick station in the summer of 1909 and continued to serve Dublin, until the freak accident in 1972.