Name the Top 5 Railroad Wrecks

[Wizlish]

Wizlish

ACY

There was a wartime accident in a tunnel, which killed a large number of people by asphyxiation. I'm not sure if it could be characterized as a wreck. I think it occurred in Europe, so I guess that disqualifies it for this discussion. I think it was during WWII, but it might have been during WWI.

 If I remember correctly, it was in late WWII in Italy.  It's mentioned in Pennoyer's My Life with Locomotives and I'll find better references later today when I look up the book.

Took longer to get to it than I'd planned, even though I knew right where it was.  The book is actually titled "Locomotives in Our Lives" (different from Wood's or Rivington's books!)

The relevant chapter is XVI, "War Damage on Italian Railroads, 1945".

"As I was in Salerno at the time of the greatest rail disaster ever known in Italy, which happened only a few miles away at Balvano, I got first-hand information from both the Italian and American railway men.  They said that wartime curtailment of service and motive power failure were the direct causes of this terrific disaster, which took the unprecedented number of 472 lives.  None of the English or American railroad men were in any way responsible, the train and line where the accident took place being entirely in Italian hands at the time.

"I think you will agree that conditions leading up to the catastrophe were unusual.  The practice of buying farm produce in outlying districts, hitchhiking a ride on a freight going to town, where these small-time schemers could sell at a great profit, had gotten well out of control of the few guards the railroad could muster.  The victims of this tunnel tragedy were in that category, for although this particular freight train had been cleared of passengers before starting on its journey, masses of people rushed it at the next station or two and, according to one theory, completely overloaded it.

"The two locomotives lumbered upgrade and pulled the train into a tunnel where the driving wheels lost traction on wet rails.  First one and then the other locomotive failed.  All attempts to start again proved futile and, as there was no ventilation, the exhausting steam and monoxide gas rapidly spread in the confined space and enveloped all but the few who escaped.  The men I talked with said the type of coal used had an unusually high gas content, which accounted largely for the rapidity of asphyxiation; for, contrary to the panic which might have occurred, many passengers were found still in conversation or sleeping positions, while trainmen were at their posts and one engineer was found to have closed his throttle and applied the brakes before he died.  There are no records here to consult, but is this not the highest number of dead in a railway accident?"  (p.137)

(There is a footnote: 'The final total count of 521 dead in this wreck was disclosed several years after the war by the Associated Press, making it the world's worst rail disaster.')

[DS4-4-1000]

The "Great Train Wreck of 1856" should be on the list.  It was a head on collision between a scheduled passenger train and a picnic special filled with children.  The accident happened near Fort Washington PA on the North Pennsylvania Railroad.  About 60 were killed and many of those were teenagers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Wreck_of_1856

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

I searched the computer about the above and found the following information.

March 2, 1944 near Salerno, Italy 500 asphxiated due to a train stopped in a tunnel. The train burned low grade coal instead of a higher grade of coal. That low grade coal produced large amounts of carbon monoxide which kills people.

That disaster happened less than two months after a train wreck in the Torro, Spain tunnel which killed 500

Ed Burns

[Wizlish]

ACY

There was a wartime accident in a tunnel, which killed a large number of people by asphyxiation. I'm not sure if it could be characterized as a wreck. I think it occurred in Europe, so I guess that disqualifies it for this discussion. I think it was during WWII, but it might have been during WWI.

If I remember correctly, it was in late WWII in Italy.  It's mentioned in Pennoyer's My Life with Locomotives and I'll find better references later today when I look up the book.

[narig01]

While not strictly a railway accident The Malbone St Wreck of 1918 in Brooklyn, NY. Various estimates of between 93 & 108 dead. Their was not a good accounting of the casualties. The resulting claims also pushed the company Brooklyn Rapid Transit into bankruptcy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbone_Street_Wreck The street where the accident occurred was renamed Empire Blvd. Rgds IGN

[wjstix]

I'd say two that resonate the most through time are the one from 1900 that went virtually unnoticed at the time: the crash on the Illinois Central in Mississippi that killed engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones, who later became world famous when a fellow railroad worker made up a song about him; and the crash about the same time involving underground steam trains in New York City that was front-page news nationwide, and lead to New York City outlawing steam engines on Manhattan...causing all trackage going into the new Grand Central Terminal to be electrified.

[ndbprr]

Looks like there needs to be some qualifiers like passenger, freight, lossof life, etc. The Decatur Illinois yard wreck where a propane car blew up followed by several more almost destroyed the city. The runaway freight down Cajon into San Bernadino followed by a ruptured gas pipeline in the 1980s was pretty devastating. The morning Congresional Limited wreck in north Philly killed 147 as I recall in the 40s.

[BaltACD]

While my 5 are not historical in the sense of being over 50 year old - they are historic on their affects of present day rail operations

Amtrak - Chase MD, 1/4/1987
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/jan-1987-amtrak-train-collision-12499930

This incident increased the frequency and severity of drug and alcohol testing.

Amtrak - Bayou Canot, AL 9/22/1993
http://secondsfromdisaster.net/s01e06-wreck-of-the-sunset-limited-1993-big-bayou-canot-train-wreck/

Worst Amtrak accident from the loss of life viewpoint.

Metrolink-UP Collision - Chatsworth, CA 9/12/2008
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f7f_1221274429

Revised the rules about employees using personal communication devices

NS- Graniteville, SC 1/6/2005
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/summary/RAR0504.html

Revised the rules on switch handling and documenting the handling of Main Track switches.

MMA - Lak Megantic, QU 7/6/2013
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-animation-details-the-moments-leading-up-to-lac-megantic-disastrous-derailment/article20110988/

Brought the Crude By Rail movement to the forefront of North American railroad discussions and led to the removal of DOT 111 tank cars from hazardous commodity transportation on a timetable.

These 5 incident have shaped how today's railroads are operating.

[ACY Tom]

I have two candidates:

1.  Head-on collision between two passenger trains on the Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis July 9, 1918 at Nashville, Tennessee.  101 dead; 171 injured.

2.  The Ashtabula Disaster.  Bridge collapse under a passenger train, with subsequent fire.  Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, December 29, 1876 near the Ashtabula, Ohio station.  92 dead.

There was a wartime accident in a tunnel, which killed a large number of people by asphyxiation.  I'm not sure if it could be characterized as a wreck.  I think it occurred in Europe, so I guess that disqualifies it for this discussion.  I think it was during WWII, but it might have been during WWI.

Tom

[NP Eddie]

Rob and all:

The 1980's BN head on wreck at Motley, MN. Three died and six locomotives were destroyed. I knew the dispatcher that gave the overlap order.

The 1952 or so NYC wreck east of Conneaut, Ohio.

The Southern "Crescent" wreck of 1978. This killed a chef that was featured on a SOU ad.

Many on the BN in the 1970's and 1980's.

Ed Burns

[rcdrye]

Woodstock Bridge (Vermont Central) (Hartford VT) 1888 - led to some of the 1892 safety appliance legislation.

Angola NY (LS&MS) 1857 - capstone to a bad year for wrecks.  Gauge standardization was a major result.

Canaan NH 1907 - led to some significant rule changes

And two bridge disasters - Norwalk CT (1853) and Newark Bay (CNJ) (1958)

[AJHook]

9/27/64

CRIP CBQ at Montgomery IL

[HeftyHauler]

Let the discussion begin! Make your case for the all-time Top 5 railroad wrecks in North America. And by "top" I mean greatest destruction and/or significance. I don't mean to be negative or morbid, but this is clearly an area of fascination for a lot of fans.