Photo by Dick Herbert, used for attention. Photo location is in Montana.
Story below was told by Ken Albrecht.
Ken says:
"Good friend of mine (Dan Perkins, BN switchman at the time, worked Seattle & Stacy St yards, now deceased) was over in Odessa, WA that weekend with another BN engineer (Mike Gelhaus, Spokane area, also deceased) reviewing NP steam negs/pix for a book about NP Steam. Both had driven by auto to get there. When Mt St Helens popped Dan took pictures during the ash fallout. He said it got very dark Sunday morning and then ash started falling out of the sky. There was about 10" accumulation on the picnic table outside. Spokane TV news talked about ash destruction of car, truck, bus motors driving thru it as well as the geological destruction. Both my BN friends were able to get to the Odessa depot, contact the railroad, arrange freight train transportation to their respective locales (picked up their cars much, much later) for work availability. Dan said the engine crew had already duct taped every possible opening where air could enter the cab: windows, doorways, etc. Same for caboose. Dusty all the way across east side. Crew out of Wenatchee reinforced duct tape in cab. They last heard contact from crew in caboose at Skykomish but did not thereafter. All radio contact with caboose crew was met with zero response. Concerned, conductor called on railroad personnel to physically check caboose upon train arrival at Everett. Both crewmen had passed out but were still alive, barely. Apparently, enough ash dust had filtered in to affect their breathing. They were taken to the hospital in Everett, WA. They survived. Had the engine crew waited until Seattle the caboose crew would've died from asphyxiation account ash intake. It was several days before Dan, likely Mike too, could safely drive their vehicles home after the ash accumulation fallout east side of Cascade Range."
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