New Team Member Added

Francesca C. Tronetti

Francesca Tronetti is the daughter of Dr. Caillean M. McMahon and is the curator of the Women in Technology - 19th Century Project. She oversaw the restoration of Office N in the main office of the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pa. She developed the conception of the re-creation of Office JS on the Lake Shore Museum grounds as well. She is a Cultural Anthropologist with a Batchelor's in Anthropology from Edinboro University, a Masters in Cultural Anthropology and Women's Studies from Brandeis University and is currently a Doctoral Student at California Institute of Integral Studies. She is fluent in Mores code, 19th century telegraph operations and equipment. She will also be helping with the set-up of the telegraph equipment and operations during filming.

Newly Discovered Charater!

Charles B. Leek

WHAT A GREAT DISCOVERY! Thanks to the research of team member David Tobias, a new and very important character to the film has been found. Many heroes emerged as a result of the Ashtabula train disaster and one of those heroes was Charles B. Leek, assistant telegraph operator who stayed at his post with John Manning for 50 hours straight with no break. We first thought that John Manning (head telegraph operator) was the only telegraph operator working the night of the disaster and the days after. It turns out this was not true! John Manning had help.

Here is the story of Charles B. Leek as published in a 1900's book, History of the LS & MS Railroad,
pages 325-327.

"Charles B. Leek, whose portrait, executed from a recent photograph appears on the opposite page, is probably the first colored gentleman to rise to as high a position as chief operator on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, being located at Ashtabula, Ohio. It was only after the hardest kind of work that this was accomplished, for his color made it all up-hill work, but by meritorious effort and strict attention to business, he won the good will and respect of his employers and fellow employees, and today their is none who is held in higher esteem.
     Mr. Leek was born in Peacedale, Rhode Island, and was three years of age when his father, J L. Leek, brought him to Ashtabula, Ohio. J.L. Leek was born in slavery, near Richmond, Virginia, and having a kind master he was freed at the age of twenty-one years, after which he drifted to the state of Rhode Island. There he married Miss E. Rodman, and they had three children. Upon removing to Ashtabula, Ohio, Mr. Leek conducted a restaurant for a period of forty years, dying in 1899, and leaving Charles B. administrator of the estate.
     Charles B. Leek began his railroad career on May 18, 1869, (at the age of 19) as a student of John P. Manning (who was then chief operator at Ashtabula), and was an apt pupil, learning telegraphy in the remarkable period of five weeks, which is the record, so far as is known. He was first assigned to Saybrook, Ohio, where he worked nights for one year. He then went on the extra list, working three months at Geneva, Ohio, and then a short time at Perry, Nottingham, Dock Junction, Girard, and Conneaut, Ohio. He then worked at Kingsville, Ohio eight months, when he returned to Ashtabula as night operator, continuing as such for one year.  He was then promoted to be first assistant of John P. Manning, chief operator, and served as such until he succeeded Mr. Manning, when the latter was promoted to be railway agent at Ashtabula Harbor.  He also served as assistant to Mr. Manning at the time of the great disaster at Ashtabula, and worked for fifty hours with out sleep or rest, he had charge of the large force of operators when his supervisor was absent. During the seven days' excitement after the accident, the total receipts of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Ashtabula were $700.  At the present time, our subject has two operators under  him P. Seipel, day operator; and Thomas Burke, night operator.  His work is on the end of the Eastern Division, east of Cleveland.  He has ever been faithful in the performance of his duty, and during his thirty years of service he has never brought upon the company a cent of expense through mistakes or accidents.  He is also an accomplished musician, giving lessons on the violin, and is director of Leek's orchestra of ten pieces, he playing first violin.
     Mr. Leek formed a matrimonial alliance with Ida A. Good, who is of white parentage, and they have three children Clarence E. Leek, who works in the Western Union Telegraph Company's office at Ashtabula, Edna L. Leek, and Elizabeth Leek, both of whom are in attendance at school."

The above is a direct quote from the book.

Doing further research, I was able to find another photo of Mr. Charles Leek, who also played with the Commonwealth Minstrels in 1878 (see photos below.) Here he is holding a horn of some kind, so it seems he played more then the violin. I then tracked the photo down and bought it for the historical society. I'll be delivering it the next time I am in the area. :-)

Charles B. Leek is buried in the Chestnut Grove Cemetery. The below photo was taken by team member Dr. Caillean M. McMahon.

I think it would be great if someone found the time to do more research on Charles Leek and his family to see if he still has descendants in the Ashtabula County.

Len Brown
Producer/Director

Grant Updates For Film Funding

A very special thanks to the Ashtabula Foundation for their $10,000 grant pledge towards the filming project! We also received a very nice $500 dollar donation from the Kinsman Historical Society. It is so nice to have so much support for this project coming from Northeast, Ohio.

We still have a number of grants filed we have not heard back from yet. With some organizations the process can sometimes take 6-8 months before we get a response. We did file grants with seven other foundations, but did not win those. Its a very competitive process and we know this going in. However we are not discouraged. 

We are currently are waiting responses from the following:
Tom E. Dailey Foundation
Ashtabula Community Development Fund
America Honda Foundation

We are always on the lookout for more grants and are filling out applications to file in August for the following grants:
CSX Foundation
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation
Cinereach
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
American Society of CIvil Engineers
IEEE Foundation
National Endowment for the Humanities
Northrop Grumman Foundation
Jim & Vanita Oelschlager Foundation
The Harnisch Foundation
The Global Film Initiative
GAR Foundation

We will also be launching a corporate funding campaign with incentives for corporations to donate to the project. I hope to have this finished in the next few weeks and then start going after these. Funding a film is a long hard road, but we have done it before. Some just take longer then others. :-)

Stay tuned for more updates.

Len Brown

New Team Member

Dr. Caillean M. McMahon, DO:  Telegraph Expert & Historian
She is the granddaughter of Sidney Kennedy, a telegrapher on the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1915 to 1962. She learned her first Morse letters, DF, from her grandfather when she was ten and has been a student of railroad telegraphic history since then.

Dr. C. M. McMahn holds a BS from Gannon University, a DO from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry from Temple University and a visiting fellowship from Duke University.

Telegraph operations has been a part of her family for generations and still is one of Dr. McMahan’s passions. In her spare time, she continues to read and research railroad telegraphy, ultimately putting her knowledge to use re-creating a commercial telegraph office of the 1890’s as part of the Central House restoration in Palenville, NY; a railroad telegraph office of 1905 at Lake Shore Railway Museum main station office in Norther East, PA; and most recently, a recreation of Office JS of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also on the Lake Shore Museum grounds, that accurately represents an office of the lake 1880’s - early 1990’s. She is currently restoring equipment for a proposed telegraph office at the old Grand Truck Railway station in Island Pond, VT. In all of these efforts, original equipment appropriate to the era involved was restored by her or under her direction to working order. Authentic paperwork was reproduced or recreated, authentic cloth insulated wiring was used, even correct voltages are used on the line between JS and Office N on the Lake Shore Railway Museum grounds. Dr. McMahn is also a member of the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society and the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society. In addition, both she and her daughter know American Morse and can read code from sounders. Dr. McMahn will be helping us recreate historically accurate telegraph operations during the filming of Engineering Tragedy: The Ashtabula Train Disaster.

Kinsman Presentation

Hi folks:

My talk in Kinsman to a crowd of over 100 people went well. However we did have some technical difficulties at first with sound. Once we got that fixed, everything went well.

I spoke at the historical Kinsman Presbyterian Church for the Kinsman Historical Society and I must say, they were wonder hosts. They had a great meal for us before the program and provided a beautiful venue. The Kinsman Presbyterian Church was built in 1831 so it will be a perfect place to film the funeral scenes of Engineering Tragedy.

A special thanks to David Tobias and Fritz Kuenzel for bringing there collection of Ashtabula tragedy artifacts to the presentation for everyone to enjoy. Their collection of rare and wonderfully preserved objects is spectacular and looked great next to the G-Scale model of the Pacific Express #5.

 It was wonderful to speak in a community that has a real connection to the Ashtabula Disaster. Phillip Bliss, who wrote over 300 church hymns was raised as a young boy in Kinsman. He loved music so much that he walked into a women's home who was playing the piano without even knocking. When the woman looked up and saw this young boy standing in her home, she was shocked and chased him out. Little did she know, this young boy would grow up to be one of America's most famous hymn writers. Phillip & Lucy Bliss died in the fiery Ashtabula Disaster and are buried in Chestnut Grove Cemetery, in Ashtabula, OH.  They are in a mass grave with 48 other unrecognized victims marked by a large obelisk in this historic cemetery.
I really enjoyed speaking in Kinsman and hope to film there when our fundraising for the film is complete.



Len Brown
Beacon Productions

Len Brown Speaking In Kinsmen 3/20/13

Hi Folks: Here is an article about my talk I will be giving in Kinsman. I only made one change to it. The article originally said  92 people died, but it was actually 97 that died.
Len Brown

By REBECCA NIEMINEN SLOAN
news@vindy.com
On a frigid night in 1876, two locomotives hauling 11 railcars with 159 passengers plunged into the Ashtabula River when the bridge carrying them collapsed.
The wooden cars caught fire, and 97 people died.
It was a scene of horrific carnage and chaos as thieves robbed the deceased, and rescuers struggled to save the injured.
The accident, which occurred due to faulty bridge construction, was the worst bridge collapse of the era.
“It was ‘The Titanic’ of the 19th century,” said Len Brown, a film director who owns Beacon Productions in Canton. “It had a profound effect on the history of engineering and changed how bridges were built.”
Brown is producing a documentary about the tragedy that eventually will air on PBS.
The Kinsman Historical Society has invited Brown to speak about the disaster and the forthcoming documentary at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kinsman’s Presbyterian Church.
During the event, Brown will share a detailed account of the tragedy and show film clips.
“This story really has so many chilling and fascinating twists,” Brown said.
For example, Amasa Stone, the designer of the bridge and an industrial giant of the time, eventually committed suicide, and the railroad’s engineer, Charles Collins, who deemed the bridge potentially unsafe, was murdered. Famous hymn-writer Philip Bliss and his wife also were killed in the accident.
Brown said the disaster has all the makings of a Hollywood movie, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being one someday.
For now, though, Brown is happy to see his PBS documentary taking shape.
“We have a fantastic crew,” Brown said. “Cinematographer Dave Ross, who won an Emmy for his work on ‘The Amazing Race,’ and line producer Debbie Marsh Stratis, who worked on the film ‘The Titanic,’ just to name a few.”
The crew also includes cinematic film-music composer Justin Durban, who has composed music for films such as Disney/Pixar’s “Brave” and “How To Train Your Dragon.”

Brown’s wife, Patti, co-owner of Beacon Productions, wrote the script for the documentary based on 10 years of research done by local historians and the late Dr. Thomas Corts.
The documentary will cost about $800,000, which is a small amount, Brown said, in comparison with other two-hour documentaries that cost $1 million or more. Grants have been procured from various sources.
Production likely will begin Aug. 1 after all funding has been secured. Production will continue for 32 weeks with an expected release date in March 2014 and broadcast in May or June 2014.
Filming will take place in Ashtabula, Ohio Village in Columbus, Century Village in Burton and Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania.
“All of the actors we’ve hired are from Northeast Ohio,” Brown said. “We are not using people from Hollywood. We wanted to give locals the opportunity.”
Brown said he believes that when the documentary airs, it will help boost tourism in Ashtabula County.
“People will want to come and see for themselves where this tragedy occurred,” he said. “Studies show that tourism can increase 20 percent in a featured area in the months after a documentary airs.”
Visitors to Ashtabula can still find remnants of the infamous accident. Ashtabula General Hospital was built because of the disaster, and many of the dead were buried in Ashtabula’s Chestnut Grove Cemetery. Artifacts from the accident are on display at The Hubbard House Museum in Ashtabula.
The ravine where the disaster took place now has a new bridge across it.
Charlotte Meloni of the Kinsman Historical Society said, “The Historical Society is overjoyed to have Mr. Brown come to Kinsman and speak on the ‘Ashtabula Horror,’ as the tragedy has been called. Phillip P. Bliss, the famous hymn composer for nationally known evanglist D. L. Moody, had lived in Kinsman from 1844-47 and perished in the disaster.”
For more details, contact Donna Carmichael at 330-876-7866 or Meloni at 330-876-9702.
For information,about the documentary, visit www.engineeringtragedy.com

Hello Everyone!

Good news, the new "preproduction" film trailer for Engineering Tragedy is done and I wanted to share with everyone. Here is the link:
https://vimeo.com/61177944
We needed a good trailer that showed the production quality of the film we are doing, plus it needed to be exiting, in your face and tell the story in one minute. I hope you all feel it does this.

The voice over is done by team member and profesional voice over artist Monty Lewis Sauerwein, who use to live in Los Angeles, CA but now lives in beautiful Spain. I work with him through Skype and then he sends me the digital files via email to work with in my editing suite. He's a great guy and we are very lucky to have him on our team!

Here is a photo of Monty and you can read about him in the team section of the website here: http://www.engineeringtragedy.com/The_Team.html
You can also listen to more samples of his work and visit his website here: www.MontysVoice.com


Take care!

Len Brown
Beacon Productions