Getting stuck on a stalled BART train for 10 minutes during the commute can seem like a disaster. Next time, count your blessings. In 1952 more than 200 passengers survived three days stuck on a train near Donner Summit during one of biggest snowstorms the area had ever seen.

Chronicle photographer Ken McLaughlin and reporter Art Hoppe were in the Sierra to report on the crews that kept the roads open during big storms. Wouldn’t you know it, they got snowbound and couldn’t return to Chronicle headquarters. That bad luck would allow them to scoop every other news outlet on the story.

Hoppe and McLaughlin heard that the “City of San Francisco,” a Southern Pacific streamliner, had become stuck in a snow drift near Yuba Pass on its run from Chicago to the Bay Area. On Jan. 13, 1952, they struck out for the train. A couple of attempts with snowshoes failed when they ended up sinking up to their waists in snow, but they borrowed skis and reached the stranded train the next morning.

The train was carrying all sorts of passengers: service members on their way to San Francisco to return to their units, Republican National Committee members checking out the city as a location for the National Convention, and families returning after the holidays. Snowplows had made it to the train with food and other supplies, but they were unable to transport the passengers to safety.

Hoppe’s first account of the grim conditions got huge front-page play in the Jan. 16 Chronicle.

“The air aboard the train is foul,” Hoppe wrote. “There is great difficulty maintaining even minimal ventilation, as the snow has to be shoveled away from the windows before they can be opened. In addition, the plumbing has frozen and the toilets and drains are not working.”

The lack of ventilation had contributed to near-asphyxiation for about 60 passengers as gas from a broken coupler leaked into one of the cars. The stricken passengers were bed-ridden, vomiting and suffering severe gastric pain.

After three miserable days and nights, the weather cooperated and a rescue convoy of cars was able make it to a spot along Highway 40 (now Interstate 80). The passengers hiked or were carried on stretchers over a path that had been stamped clear by railroad workers. The convoy took them the 5 miles to a lodge and a train that would whisk them to Oakland. They would be greeted by throngs of loved ones and media awaiting their arrival.

Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicle’s vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay.



