
106 years after tragic crash, locomotive located in Lake Superior - wglb
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4098295-finding-694-106-years-after-tragic-crash-locomotive-located-lake-superior
======
miles
Perhaps the most tortured and obscure opening paragraph I've ever read in a
newspaper:

 _Guided not just by the hands of operator Tom Crossmon, but also by the past
efforts of an extended network of divers and the collective memory of a
community, the remotely-operated vehicle descended into the depths of Lake
Superior._

~~~
taspeotis
There are some pretty bad ones here [1]. And also a few gems [2].

> One warm spring night in 2011, a young man named Travis Hughes stood on the
> back deck of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at Marshall University, in
> West Virginia, and was struck by what seemed to him—under the influence of
> powerful inebriants, not least among them the clear ether of youth itself—to
> be an excellent idea: he would shove a bottle rocket up his ass and blast it
> into the sweet night air. And perhaps it was an excellent idea. What was not
> an excellent idea, however, was to misjudge the relative tightness of a
> 20-year-old sphincter and the propulsive reliability of a 20-cent bottle
> rocket. What followed ignition was not the bright report of a successful
> blastoff, but the muffled thud of fire in the hole. -- Caitlin Flanagan, The
> Atlantic

[1] [http://www.poynter.org/2014/and-now-for-some-really-bad-
lede...](http://www.poynter.org/2014/and-now-for-some-really-bad-
ledes/248149/)

[2] [http://www.poynter.org/2014/gallery-of-good-ledes-
recommenda...](http://www.poynter.org/2014/gallery-of-good-ledes-
recommendation-edition/248323/)

~~~
daeken
That ... is perhaps the best opening paragraph I've ever read in a
journalistic publication.

------
dbcurtis
The amazing thing about wrecks in Lake Superior is that they are incredibly
well preserved and free of corrosion. The lake is fresh water, and is only a
few degrees above freezing in most places all year long. Corrosion moves very
slowly.

Full dry-suit diving, though, if you go to see them yourself.

------
vanattab
Why can I not highlight the txt? I can't be the only one who likes to
highlight as they read. If it's to stop copying they should have disabled
double click and ctrl+a.

~~~
_asummers
I hate when sites do this. Also when they ask you to share the text you're
highlighting (looking at you with a shaking fist, Medium!). No, I just didn't
want to lose my place when I get interrupted in a few minutes, but now I have
to figure out how to click out to make the giant share modal go away, thanks.

------
sbuttgereit
Hmmm... the black and white opening sequence in the accompanying video appears
to be a model of the train in question... like an HO scale thing or so, as
opposed to actual historical "before" photos. I don't recall seeing a
presentation like that in something like this.

~~~
jonah
Very likely an HO model. I had that engine or a similar one as a kid.

The other video linked at the bottom of the article[1] shows a historical
photo of #722 which was the same model locomotive.

[1] [https://vimeo.com/176065209](https://vimeo.com/176065209)

------
nradov
Additional photos of the dives:
[https://m.facebook.com/townshipofschreiber/posts/10153887671...](https://m.facebook.com/townshipofschreiber/posts/10153887671985819)

GUE Quest magazine article about the history and the dives (pay wall):
[https://www.gue.com/quest-vol-16-no-3](https://www.gue.com/quest-vol-16-no-3)

------
Animats
Now what? With enough money and effort, they could pull the locomotive up, an
option discussed in the article. But why?

The locomotive was a Canadian Pacific D10. About 500 were built, 9 survive in
museums, and three are maybe in running condition. Exporail near Montreal has
one on display. The South Simcoe Railway in Ontario runs theirs. So it's not
something lost to history.

------
devillius
As someone who lives in Duluth, this is not surprising at all. It's a
magnificent sight when Lake Superior freezes over and you are able to
walk/drive over it.

------
rectang
I'm accustomed to seeing underwater footage of boat and plane wrecks, slowly
eaten away by the years. Seeing a... locomotive... in that state is strange.

