An Amtrak train bound for Richmond crashed into the back of a semi-trailer truck in Connecticut on Friday morning, slightly injuring a train driver and damaging warning equipment at the railroad crossing, authorities said.
A television news video from the scene of the accident in North Haven showed severe damage to the rear of the truck trailer as well as to an equipment mast with warning lights and a crossbar.
The accident occurred shortly before 6 a.m. as Train 471 was traveling south from Springfield, Massachusetts, Amtrak officials said. The train, carrying 97 passengers, struck the truck at a railroad crossing in an industrial area about six miles north of New Haven.
“A semi-trailer loaded with paper was delayed in traffic and was unable to clear the railroad crossing when an oncoming Amtrak train collided with the trailer,” the North Haven Fire Department said in a statement.
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A train driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital, but no passengers were hurt, Amtrak officials said. The truck driver was uninjured.
The cause of the accident was investigated.
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Because of the accident, Amtrak and local train service was temporarily suspended. Amtrak said the train’s passengers would be bused to another station.
The truck’s trailer bore the name of Canadian company Musket Transport. An employee of the company’s safety department said he was aware of the accident but declined to comment further.
17 photos of Richmond Department Stores from our archive
New Chest President – William B. Thalhimer Jr. (right) took the helm yesterday after being elected president of the Richmond Area Community Chest at a 1959 meeting of Chest trustees. He succeeds W. Stirling King. Thalhimer, president and chief executive officer of Thalhimers, Inc., has been a Chest volunteer since 1934. William B. Thalhimer Jr., pictured here in his role as president of the Richmond Area Community Chest in 1959. The man on the left is W. Stirling King, former mayor of Richmond and Thalhimer’s immediate predecessor as Community Chest president.
Employee photo
This December 1950 image of East Broad Street at Fifth Street in downtown Richmond shows throngs of Christmas shoppers visiting stores such as Baker’s, Peoples Drug, Swatty’s Pants, Haverty’s Furniture and Raylass Department Store.
Employee photo
In October 1955, a U.S. mail truck drove down Broad Street downtown across from the Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads department stores.
Employee photo
This February 1953 photo shows the old Miller & Rhoads Corner Shop and adjacent Woolworth’s at Fifth and East Broad Streets downtown shortly before they were demolished. The replacement building, which opened the following year, still housed the two retailers, but in a different configuration.
staff
In January 1975, shoppers at Miller & Rhoads in downtown Richmond passed by “the clock.” The distinctive four-face clock was installed in the department store in the mid-1920s and is now on display at the Valentine Richmond History Center.
Masaaki Okada
In May 1936, the Charles Stores Company department store opened on East Broad Street between First and Foushee Streets. This store had 23 departments and some of the opening offers included women’s dresses and white shoes for $1 and men’s shirts for 50 cents. Today, this spot is a parking lot. July 5, 1936: New location of the Charles Stores at 13-17 East Broad Street. Lease negotiations were conducted by the office of Gordon E. Strause.
Employee photo
In March 1967, Miller & Rhoads opened its new “Collector’s Corner” between the Tea Room and the Ladies Room on the fifth floor of the East Broad Street store downtown. The new department included antiques, reproductions of old furniture, china, silver and curiosities.
James Netherwood
On December 23, 1968, Stanley S. Kidwell Jr. and his three children — from left, 5-year-old Rhanna, 7-year-old Megan and 8-year-old Wendy — watched the stuffed animals dance in the snow in the window of Miller & Rhoads downtown. Under the direction of Addison Lewis, Miller & Rhoads’ Christmas windows became one of Richmond’s most anticipated moments of the season.
P.A. Gormus, Jr.
This June 1950 photo shows Harper’s Department Store at 201 E. Broad St. The store opened in 1933 as The Linen Mart. After closing in 2006, the store was sold to developers who found the contents like a time capsule, with items dating back decades — including a men’s leather jacket for $10 and a boy’s three-piece wool suit with dress shirt for $4.99. The contents were purchased by two local collectors. The building is still vacant. Harper’s Inc. 201 E. Broad, TD Mag.
Employee photo
This May 1957 photo shows Woolworth’s at the corner of Fifth and Broad streets in downtown Richmond. The $1 million building opened in September 1954 and housed several departments of the nearby Miller & Rhoads, which had a store on the site in the late 19th century. An ad for Woolworth’s Easter sale offered handbags for $1, records for 99 cents, and cowhide and plastic belts for 39 to 98 cents.
Times-Dispatch
The same year that the stock market crash of 1929 occurred, Thalhimers added a new entrance to his downtown store.
RTD Employee
In August 1954, J. Harold Dunn was working to set up his Dunn Bros. miniature circus — “the biggest little show on earth,” as he called himself — at Miller & Rhoads in downtown Richmond. Admission was 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children 12 and under. A few years earlier, the newspaper reported that it took five men 48 hours to set up the 475,000-piece circus on a 60-by-28-foot table — and seven hours to take it down.
Times-Dispatch
In February 1951, this display, with pages from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News-Leader as a backdrop, was installed in a Miller & Rhoads window on Grace Street to announce Easter and the new splendor of spring. Addison Lewis was the department store’s window manager for 52 years, a period in which the scenes became extremely popular.
Times-Dispatch
In August 1951, saleswoman Eunice Hester attempted to help Robert Matthews choose a perfume for his wife at the Miller & Rhoads department store in Richmond. A caption accompanying the published photo referred to “the dilemma of the man caught in the task of choosing a perfume.”
Times-Dispatch
In December 1968, the first licenses for the legal sale of mixed alcoholic beverages were issued in Richmond since 1916. Here, Cornelius T. Rogers mixed a drink at the Captain’s Grill restaurant in the John Marshall Hotel while bartender Richard Kelley watched.
Joe Colognori
In November 1978, African-American women gathered for a beauty clinic at Thalhimers in Richmond’s Eastgate Mall. Sponsored by the Fashion Fair, the clinic brought beauty experts such as Pearl Hester (standing right) to demonstrate makeup techniques.
Times-Dispatch
In October 1955, famed chef James Beard visited Thalhimer’s new deli and conducted cooking demonstrations. Beard liked to eat ham on Mondays, but when he sliced Virginia’s own Smithfield ham, he broke with tradition: He preferred the European method of cutting it crosswise into long, thin slices that start at the end of the leg of lamb and run roughly parallel to the bone. The annual James Beard Foundation Awards will be announced today and Monday. The foundation, established after Beard’s death in 1985, gave out its first awards in 1991.
Employee photo
