For anyone who has lived in Bridgeport for a long time, they know a trip down Main Street means crossing the railroad tracks on Main Street near the Benedum Civic Center or perhaps along Virginia Avenue. They also know there is a chance you may get stuck in traffic.

 

What many may not know is that many years ago, in 1967 to be exact, there was a train derailment in the area of where the train crosses Virginia Avenue and in the area behind several businesses – such as Cooper Law and Kopp Copier Service on Main Street.

 

It was, in fact, a big deal. So big, in fact, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were called in to investigate.

 

Roughly 55 years ago, there was just one suspect in the case. And he’s alive and well – and still innocent – living in Ohio, just outside Lake Erie.

 

His name is Robert Winters, and he is 66 years young today. He very easily recalls the situation and many of the details with the exception of the date. He knows it was 1967 but was only fairly certain it was in July.

 

Regardless, before we get to the interrogation of a former city resident for what, to the best of my knowledge, is the only train derailment in Bridgeport’s history, a little background is in order. And it is one pretty cool trip down memory lane.

 

Winters is living today in the same area where many of his family lived prior to moving to Bridgeport. He came back to the area close to where his parents grew up – his father in Brownton just outside Harrison County and his mother who lived in Arlington – after the family came into some money.

 

“My dad got hurt and came into some money and said he was going to be somebody, so we came back to West Virginia,” said Winters. “We purchased Michael’s Restaurant that was located at 236 West Main Street, right across from J. Eddy’s, and it was called Winter’s Lunch.”

 

That was back in 1964. At the time, the family not only did business in the building that eventually tore down at that address but lived in an apartment above it.

 

Based on the location and considering kids at that time were outside all of time, it was no surprise that a young Robert Winters, not yet a teenager upon arrival to the city, fell in love with the area and the train tracks and trains and the Benedum Civic Center. As a student at Simpson Elementary, he was like every other child of that generation.

 

There was another thing that made him love the trains.

 

“I had an uncle, Robert Clonch who lived in North View, who worked for the B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad,” said Winters. “I don’t know exactly what his job involved, but he always rode in the caboose.”

 

There was something else back behind the restaurant. The old Master Glass Company, or Master Marble Company, was located along Simpson Creek and the tracks as well.

 

“I used to go down there all the time and get the marbles they’d throw away and some of the workers would even save me some. That place was like a gold mine for kids,” said Winters with a laugh.

 

Not unlike businesses today that are located near railroad tracks, there was direct line from the tracks to the marble factory. Winters said rail cars would go in, fill up, and depart. There was something else, however, that led to an 11-year-old getting a shakedown by the FBI.

 

“By the back fence of the Benedum Civic Center there was a switching system for the tracks to bring the trains off the main line to the factory. You could get out of the train and mess with the switches, which were big metal levers,” said Winters. “When you grabbed it and pulled it to one side, it threw the switch and instead of the train going straight, it would go down to the marble factory. That switch box was always locked up.”

 

Then, one day, it was not locked.

 

“I was curious about why it was unlocked and at the time I didn’t know what it was. I grabbed the switch and flipped it over,” he said. “Oh Lord, the thing was probably about 35 pounds and two to three feet long. It wasn’t easy to mess with, but I switched it over,” said Winters.

 

That early summer night, while an 11-year-old Winters was in the family restaurant, a train came through like it always did. And it stopped.

 

“I remember it blocked traffic for a while, but they did what they had to do to get the train on the way,” said Winters. “I really didn’t think anything about it.”

 

A couple of weeks later, Winters was back at the switch box again. The switch was where it was the first time that he saw it unlocked so he did what a lot of youngsters would do – he flipped it again.

 

“I got home and was there that night and the train stops again. That was the last time I did it,” said Winters.

 

This time, Winters found out later a woman who lived in a house in the area was interrogated by local police. She told them a kid was near the area and he figured she had to know it was him.

 

“She knew who I was because that place was my ant trail,” said Winters. “The funny thing, I never heard anything about it.”

 

It would not be too long after that when he would hear about the train tracks and the switch. It came later that summer, Winters believes mid-July, when a train derailed behind the family business.

 

“It was a bad derailment, maybe as many as nine cars, but nothing hit any houses, businesses, or our restaurant. It didn’t even take out any of the buildings at the stockyard, but it sure created a mess,” said Winters, who had not flipped the switch since the second incident. “I was like ‘holy mackerel’ I can’t believe that happened.

 

A short while later, young Robert Winters was back in the family restaurant. His father said there were some people in the back that wanted to talk to you.

 

“I didn’t think too much about it, but there in the back was the B&O Police (yep, it was a thing), the sheriff, the local police, and the FBI,” said Winters. “They told me they were talking to a woman who told them I had been flipping that switch.

 

“I told them I had done that, but not this time. They let me know they were going to do an evaluation on the train to find out what caused it to derail,” he continued. “The last thing they said was they may be back to talk to me.”

 

Winters, as any kid would, freaked out a bit. And like any kid living in that era in that area realized perhaps his biggest fear was going to come true.

 

“I was always told if I got into trouble, I was going to go to Pruntytown,” he said. “I thought that was where I was headed.”

 

As it turned out, a trip up Route 50 into Taylor County to pay a debt to society for the train derailment not only would have been unfair, but never came about. Those investigating found the culprit.

 

“They investigated it and found out one of the wheels had broken and a police officer brought up the broken wheel and showed me. He told me I was a pretty lucky young lad. During that whole time, I sure didn’t feel lucky,” Winters laughed.

 

Winters left the radar of the FBI and law enforcement almost immediately. He would leave West Virginia soon thereafter.

 

“We sold the restaurant and left in 1970,” said Winters. “I would join the Army, then return to Ohio, and then join the Air Force.”

 

Eventually, Winters would spend a long time in Oklahoma. In 2015, after working in Saudi Arabia, he came back home to Ohio in 2015.

 

“I still go visit every once in a while,” said Winters, who still has family in Harrison County. “It’s hard not to think of that particular incident.”

 

I imagine it’s hard not to. After all, Robert Winters, despite his proven innocence, goes down as the loan suspect in the city’s only train derailment.

 

And now, thanks to Robert Winters fresh memory, you know what happened that day more than a half a century ago.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows a young Robert Winters standing in front of one of the derailed train cars in 1967. The rest of the photos show the accident and the specatators - and equipment for removal - it drew.