Talk in Canfield, OH and One Coming at The Lodge at Geneva on the Lakes

Hi Folks:

On Oct. 28th, 2013 I was invited by Edward "Bruce" Burns to speak to a group of 70 people at the A LA CART CATERING Restaurant in Canfield, Ohio about the Ashtabula train disaster. We had a wonderful evening with great food and even received another donation to the film from Bruce and Alma Burns.

For the first time our model train and model bridge, which will be used in the film, were in the same room together. Everyone enjoyed seeing them including the artifacts and photos that my friend, collector and historian Fritz Kuenzel, allowed me to borrow for the evening.

Another very special thanks must go out to another close friend, and the man I call my "Williamsfield Dad," Gary Tabor, who transported the bridge from North Bloomfield, OH to Canfield in the back of his truck.

On Oct. 31st, 2013 from from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM. I will be giving another talk at The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake in Ashtabula County as part of the Discoverpaths Lifelong Learners speaking series. The program is entitled "Really Horrible Disasters." featured speakers will include Carl Feather (Star Beacon), Barbara Hamilton (Jefferson Historical Society) and myself. The cost to attend is $10.00 but will also include a trip to the disaster site. For more information go to this link and look in the "Calender of Programs" section: http://www.thelodgeatgeneva.com/4317.aspx

Hope to see you there!

Len Brown

The Bridge Arrived & The Big Dig!

Hi Folks:

Finally the Ashtabula Bridge section arrived in North Bloomfield at the Peterson farm where our outdoor set and miniature Ashtabula gorge has been dug by Roger Peterson Sr and his son. 

Its amazing how real this bridge looks! It's eight feet long and made with real miniature steel I-beams and a real wood deck across the top. This bridge is going to look great on camera with the train rolling across the top of it.

Thank you Mainline Bridges for this awesome donation and your sponsorship, and thank you Robert S. Morrison Foundation for providing some of the funding that paid to ship this bridge from Phoenix, AZ to North Bloomfield.

It should be noted, that this bridge will be donated to the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum after filming.

If you would like to see the bridge, we will have it at The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake, Oct. 31st, 2013 from 1:00 - 5:00 PM, along with the train and many artifacts from the disaster. I will be speaking at a program as well as Carl Feather and Barbara Hamilton. The program is hosted by DiscoveryPaths LifeLong Learners as part of their lifelong learning series. The name of the program is "Really Horrible Disasters." Information about the program can be found here: http://www.thelodgeatgeneva.com/4317.aspx

In other news, we have been shooting B-Roll and interviews for the film as we gear up for major shooting to start when full funding is in place. As part of our shooting schedule, on Sept. 27, 2013 Dr. Don Stierman, a geophysicists from the University of Toledo came to the wreck site, with two of his grad students. They came to conduct a magnetometer survey of the area in hopes of finding a part of the bridge, which could then be sent to Case Western Reserve University's Engineering Lab for study. Unfortunately we found no large bridge parts, but were able to create a map of the ground under the site and found some interesting targets of interest. Armed with our survey map, metal detectors, shovels and picks we were able to return a few days later and locate more iron parts from the wreck as well as a coupling faceplate we think was from the Columbia engines tender. We also found bolts from the bridge, a track joint used to hook train track together on top of the bridge, a train car spring and a few broken car link pins. We are currently looking through old photos to verify if the coupling faceplate is in fact from the tender. This piece was found in the area where the Columbia was laying.

We filmed both days of digging and will include this as part of the documentary film. Below are photos from the dig.

A big thanks to the University of Toledo for doing the survey and the Township Parks Service for permission to dig and use of some of their equipment. Another big thanks to Fritz Kuenzel, David Tobias, Roger Peterson and Gary Tabor for all your help searching, digging and helping me drag all of my film gear down to the wreck site.

That's all to report for now.

Len Brown
Beacon Productions

The Latest News

Hi Everyone:

A lot has been happening since my last blog. Wow, where should I start?

First of all we have successfully filed our big grant with the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant was 135 pages long! It was a really tough grant, but when your asking for $800,000 they want to know everything about you and everything about the project including what you had for breakfast. Some very respectable people have evaluated our grant before it was sent it in and they think we have done a great job and have as good of a chance as anyone applying to win.

If you have not been to the website lately you will notice we have a number of team member that have been added. Let me introduce them to you.
 First on the list is William Grant - Executive-In-Charge:

Mr. Grant is the Executive-in-Charge of this production. William Grant is no stranger to PBS, producing thousands of hours of broadcast content. At WNET.ORG, Grant was in charge of the documentary production department, which produced national broadcast programs in the areas of natural history, science, history, business, travel, and other topics. While at WNET he was the executive producer of Innovation and Going Places and numerous miniseries, including America on Wheels, Savage Skies, Savage Earth, Savage Seas, Knife to the Heart, Stephen Hawking’s Universe, On the Trail of Mark Twain, The American President, In Search of Ancient Ireland, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Slavery and the Making of America, African American Lives, The Supreme Court 1, Looking for Lincoln and the series Secrets of the Dead. He has been responsible, as executive in charge of production, for Nature, one of public television’s most watched continuing series, and the miniseries Savage Planet, Secrets of the Pharaohs, Warship, Africa, 1900 House, Frontier House, Manor House, The Secret Life of the Brain, Colonial House, Texas Ranch House, Warplane, Ground War and the Human Spark. Previously he was at WGBH in Boston where he was managing editor of Frontline, and then executive editor of NOVA. 

Dr. Yakov Ben-Haim, Ph.D - Engineer and Scientist:

Dr. Ben-Haim holds the Yitzhak Moda'i Chair in Technology and Economics at

the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. He was chosen for this project based on his books and articles on decisions under uncertainty in many fields including engineering design and reliability, economics, medicine, biological

conservation, homeland security, epistemology, and more. His arguments about “how safe is safe” and “can there be progress without pain” are good discussions to be included in this documentary film. Prof. Ben-Haim also initiated “info-gap theory,” which is a method for analysis, planning, decision and design under uncertainty. He will also be assisting us with much of the humanities content of the film. “In the end, there is no progress without innovation; no innovation without discovery; no discovery without the unknown; no unknown without fear and there is no progress without pain.” Prof. Yakov Ben-Haim.

  Dr. Gladys Haddad, Ph.D. - Historian
 Dr. Haddad is professor of American Studies at Case Western Reserve University. She is also the founder and director of the Western Reserve Studies Symposium. A historian and regionalist, her scholarship is centered in Ohio’s Western Reserve. She has published on the history, literature and art of the region. Her most recent book is a biography entitled Flora Stone Mather: Daughter of Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue and Ohio’s Western Reserve. Dr. Haddad is very familiar with the history of Amasa Stone and his family. Flora Stone Mather was the daughter of Amasa Stone, the main character in our documentary. Dr. Haddad is also considered the “Dian Rehm” of the Western Reserve, and hosts a radio program entitled Regionally Speaking, which airs on the Universities radio station WRUW 91.1 FM. Besides a number of publications she is also the writer/producer of three documentaries: Samuel Mather: Vision Leadership, Generosity; Samuel and Flora Stone Mather: Partners in Philanthropy and Flora Stone Mather: A Legacy of Stewardship. 

  Dr. Mark J. Camp, Ph.D - Railroad Historian
Dr. Camp is a geology professor at the University of Toledo Dept. of Environmental Sciences. He is a longtime historian of early Ohio railroads and the author of several books on the subject including Railroad Depots of Northeast Ohio, his third book in a series of six or possibly seven books.  Dr. Camp became interested in trains and the railroad as a child when he and his father would create layouts for trains at their home. He also has a personal collection of thousands of slides, pictures and postcards filling 30 filing cabinets. Dr. Camp also serves as one of the directors of the Railroad Station Historical Society.

   Dr. Timothy M. Kalil, Ph.D. - Gospel Music Historian
Dr. Kalil grew up in Ashtabula, where the bridge disaster has always been a part of local history and lore. He became familiar with P.P. Bliss through playing and singing the composer’s hymns. Dr. Kalil was also a contributing author of the book Bliss & Tragedy: The Ashtabula Railway-Bridge Accident of 1876 and the Loss of P.P. Bliss. Besides being an accomplished pianist, instructor and conductor, Dr. Kalil has taught classes at the university level on Understanding (Western) Music, History of Jazz, American Music, Music As A World Phenomenon, Asian Music and African Music. Dr. Kalil will be helping us understand the loss of P.P. Bliss and his important contributions to gospel music.

I am very happy to welcome them all to our team!

In other news, I have been told we will have the model Ashtabula bridge in North Bloomfield by next Wednesday. I know we have said this before, but this bridge build has taken poor Damian longer then he thought. He said it was the most difficult and complex bridge he has ever built and it just took more time then he thought it would. You can check out the latest photos of the bridge here.
http://www.engineeringtragedy.com/The_Model_Bridge.html

That's all to report for now!

Len Brown over and out!

Grants & Model Bridge Update

Hi Folks:

As we keep moving forward with our funding, we have some big milestone grant filings coming up this month. Next week we file for the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Media Makers Grant. Its a big one worth $800,000! This one grant would finish our funding requirements, so everyone keep us in your prayers and pray we get it.  It's a very competitive grant and they only fund 17% of the grant requests they get.  We are also filing for 15 other grants this month in hopes of hedging our bet, just in case we don't win the big NEH grant.

The model of our bridge we are shooting for the documentary is almost done. It has been a HUGE and complicated project for Damian at Mainline Bridges to complete and has taken him much longer then he expected. He has been working with Dr. Dario Gasparini, Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University's engineering department on the design. He has also been studying the many plans and photos we sent him to build a bridge that's not only accurate to the real bridge, but will also look real on camera.

I have been getting photos from Damian over the building process and have been posting them on our website here: http://www.engineeringtragedy.com/The_Model_Bridge.html so check them out. The latest ones are on the bottom of the page.

Hopefully in the next few weeks the bridge will be shipped to us and we can then finish building our outdoor set.

We also have some new team members I need to tell you about, but that will have to wait till my next blog. I have to finish these grants and get them in. :-)

Take Care!

Len Brown

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

Visit to Fritz Kuenzel's Railroad World

Hi Friends:

Friday Feb. 9th, 2013 was a super fun day for me and some of the members of the historical team as we visited the home of Fritz Kuenzel in Norwalk, OH. Fritz contacted me last month after finding our website about the film and told me about his interest in the Ashtabula Disaster.  He also said he had collected a few things over the years about the LS & MS and even had some artifacts from the disaster site. "SOME THINGS" WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!  Fritz's collection of train memorabilia was huge and would make any museum curator jealous. 

Fritz is a railroad engineer with the Norfolk Southern Railroad and runs his train between Bellvue, OH and Portsmouth, OH. He enjoys all things about railroad history,  but especially the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. Fritz feels he was born in the wrong era and dreams of the days when old steam engines ran the lines. Today, Fritz enjoys treasure hunting along old railroad beds and bridges looking for old iron train parts, but really enjoys treasure hunting at the old Ashtabula Bridge Disaster Site.

On the trip to "Fritz's Railroad World" I was joined by team members David Simmons with the Ohio Historical Society, David Tobias (Historian & Artifact Collector) and Chuck Burnham (Historian, Locomotive Engineer, Passenger Conductor & Breakman).

                                          Historical Team inside Fritz's Depot

                                         Fritz Kuenzel in his depot around some of his collection.


Fritz has a huge collection of LS&MS railroad artifacts, photos, and books from the time. David Tobias was in train heaven the entire time we were there. I think they are going to be new best friends and will be enjoying many years of treasure hunting together.

The Ashtabula Bridge Disaster site seems to have been picked over by collectors over the years and no longer gives up her secrets as easy as she use to. You can still find artifacts, but you really have to know how and where to look. According to  David and Fritz, you can spend hours or days in the gorge looking before you find one small artifact.

Here is a photo of Fritz's depot he took during the summer.

After lunch at "Berry's Restaurant" in Norwalk, Fritz took us to see an old stone railroad bridge that was built by Charles Collins. It was unbelievable to see! The same stone masons that built the abutments for the Ashtabula bridge built the abutments on this bridge over the Huron River. Seeing this bridge was like seeing what the abutments on the Ashtabula bridge must have looked like and how tall they were.

Photo of the bridge over Huron River built by Charles Collins and same stone masons that build the Ashtabula Abutments. This photo does not do this bridge justice. It looks small in this photo, but it was huge in real life.

                                         Sign beside the bridge.

Here are other photos from our visit.

                                      Buckets full of old "link and pin couplers" and track plates.

                                               David Tobias was really happy to be here.

                                               LS&MS Survey Marker and railroad car jack.

                                           Old railroad rails.

                                                 Old mid 1800's  Link & Pin Coupler

                                         Wall full of "journal box covers."

Please subscribe to our blog so you will get an email notification when we post new stories.

Len Brown

Photo of Dr. Freeman D. Case Found

Today I got an email from Sue Dalke, stating she has found a photo of Dr. Freeman Dwight Case. Its a photo we have been looking for, for some time. Good job Sue!

Dr. Freeman Dwight Case is the only town doctor we can prove was actually in town at the time of the disaster. He lived at 95 Center St. in Ashtabula. When he heard the fire bell ring he left for the Protection Company Fire House, which was not far from his home. He watched the men  hooked up the fire steamer Neptune and leave for the fire. He followed in the blizzard conditions and made his way to the Bridge abutment and was able to look over the side at the wreckage and raging fire. According to the story, he left from there and walked to the Ashtabula passenger depot to treat some of the wounded. From there he made his way to a number of hotels and eventually ended up at the home of Henry Apthorp, were he would treat his last patient at 5:30 AM. Physically exhausted the young 30 year old physician returned home for a short nap and then resumed his duties the next day with other surgeons, which had arrived on the relief train from Union Depot in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Freeman Dwight Case was born Dec. 16th, 1846. His parents were Hiram Newton Case and Mary Amidon. He married Annette  J. Barnard on Nov. 18, 1868 and had two children Clarence Everett Case 1870-1958 and Mary B. Case 1875 - _____. He died at the young age of 58 on Feb. 7, 1905 in Ashtabula, Ohio from blood poisoning from an injury he received when he slipped on the icy steps in front of his home and fell into the street.

Dr. Case attend Oberlin College where he completed his literary studies and then attended Western Reserve Medical college in Cleveland, graduating in the spring of 1870.

Dr. Case was also a very respected member of the community and served on the Ashtabula City Council for several years. During his service with this body, he helped oversee the modernization of the city water works, saw the first street cars in Ashtabula put in service and saw a new city all built.

Here is his photo:

Len Brown

More Good News Today:


Justin R. Durban joins the Engineering Tragedy film team!

You might not know his name, but I know you have heard his music in film trailers and films such as: Brave (Disney/Pixar 2012), The Immortals (2011), Alice in Wonderland (2009), Chronicles of Narnia 3 (2010), How To Train Your Dragon (2011), Australia (2008), Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2008), Curse of Babylon (2011), Firecracker (2005), Mummy 3, Hulk, Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix and many more...

Justin R. Durban was born on December 7th, 1977 in Memphis Tennessee and was raised in the small town of Madisonville, Kentucky. He majored in Graphic Design and Art studio with a Theatre minor at the University of Kentucky.

Justin’s strong desire to work on anything involving films led him to pick up a keyboard, find some music software, and begin to write and score his own music for his own movie projects. He gained recognition by giving away his music to anyone that found a place for it within their films. This was accomplished through the online entity called, “Edgen” (pronounced: edge – in). This working partnership and “Pay it Forward” thinking with filmmakers lead to a growing body of work that has spanned and grown tremendously over the years.

His music can best be described as “Upliftingly Dark” Cinematic Film Music with Epic Intimacy. He plays by ear but the music ultimately resonates through his heart.

He currently resides between Los Angeles, California and Austin, TX with his wife, 2 boys and guardianship of his 7 yr old nephew, further pursuing his filmmaking and film scoring career.

You can visit his website to see more of his credits and listen to his music here: http://www.justindurban.com/

Len Brown

Producer & Director

The Latest News

Hi Everyone:

Some great new historical photos have been added to the Engineering Tragedy website to include new character photos and a new section on the site called "Historical Ashtabula Photos" http://www.engineeringtragedy.com/Historical_Ashtabula_Photos.html
The photos on the website were proved by The Ashtabula County Public Library, Louise Raffa, David Tobias, Fritz Kuenzel and the Ashtabula Fire Dept.

Its grant time and Patti and I are putting grants in like crazy to get funding for the film! Here is a list of grants we are currently applying for: There will be more then this before we are done.

• Engineering Information Foundation - February, 2013
• Ashtabula Foundation - February, 2013
• Conneaut Foundation - February, 2013
• Cleveland Foundation - March, 2013
• The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation - March, 2013
• The George Gund Foundation - March, 2013
• Cinereach – 2013 grant cycle not yet determined
• Ashtabula County Medical Center - March, 2013
• National Railway Historical Society - April, 2013

That's all the news to report for now.

Len Brown