When the grim reaper rode the rails.

[wanswheel]

This one was pretty grim, in fact the worst ever at the time.

https://archive.org/stream/Railroad_Stories_v16n03_1935-02.Munsey_c2c_ufikus-DPP_/Railroad%20Stories%20v16n03%201935-02.Munsey%20c2c%20ufikus-DPP%20#page/n49/mode/2up

[wanswheel]

Another unlucky excursion. Improved Order of Red Men is not as large as it once was.  Both Presidents Roosevelt were members.

https://archive.org/stream/Railroad_Stories_v19n05_Munsey_Apr_1936_ufikus-DPP/Railroad%20Stories%20v19n05%20Munsey%20%28Apr%201936%29%20%28ufikus-DPP%29#page/n91/mode/2up

[wanswheel]

wanswheel

This one was pretty grim, in fact the worst ever at the time.

https://archive.org/stream/Railroad_Stories_v17n01_1935-04_153_pages_Ufikus-Teachbug/Railroad%20Stories%20v17n01%20%281935-04%29%20%28153%20pages%29%20%28Ufikus-Teachbug%29#page/n21/mode/2up

[wanswheel]

Same day Grandma got runned over by a reindeer. Each of these recent awful posts has a link to a magazine, which I hope no one is the worse off for flipping through the pages of.

https://archive.org/stream/Railroad_Stories_v14n02_1934-05.Munsey/Railroad%20Stories%20v14n02%20%281934-05.Munsey%29#page/n89/mode/2up

[Euclid]

In regard to the story, A RACE THAT COST 44 LIVES:

 

I see a fatal flaw in the control of Meadows Crossing where this wreck occurred.  Although it is not directly cited in the article, elements of it are discussed. 

 

The interlocking plant that controlled the crossing at Meadows was 100% decisive in guaranteeing that two trains approaching the crossing could not be given the right of way at the same time.   That was the point of interlocking plants.  So, as long as approaching trains complied with wayside signals, there would not be a collision at the diamond. 

 

However, an official rule also applied to this crossing in a secondary manner.  Trains approaching the crossing rang a signal bell inside of the tower, thus identifying their approach to the tower operator.  Upon receiving the bell signal, the operator would line the signals up for the approaching train, thus blocking the other three possible approaches to the crossing. 

 

The secondary rule required the operator of the interlocking plant to “favor” the trains of the Reading Railroad, the company that owned the crossing installation and control.  In other words the rule called for the operator to give the clear signal to trains of the Reading Railroad, which were known by schedule to be approaching nearby—even if they had not yet rung the signal bell.

 

Still, the absolute resolution of the interlocking plant would provide 100% assurance that two trains could not be given a proceed signal.  However, what the rule overlooked is the fact that engineers of the Reading Railroad might grow accustomed to always being given the right of way over conflicting trains that were approaching the crossing, but had not yet rung the signal bell in the tower. 

 

Naturally, with that assurance, Reading engineers would be likely to rely on that overarching favoritism to some extent, and pay less heed to the actual wayside home signal governing their right of way at the crossing. 

 

In my opinion, this secondary rule is a fatal flaw in the safety of the crossing.  Instead of just letting the home signal do its job of deciding yes or no, it introduces the expectation that it will always say yes.  To some degree, it actually amounts to a conflict of authority.

 

As I understand it, this was based on an official rule and not just an informal policy.  My understanding of this is backed up by the fact that the jury actually said that the tower operator was partly at fault for not lining up the interlocking plant for the train that ultimately ran the red signal.    

[Murphy Siding]

     I find it odd to think about the idea of a railroad accident that caused 44 fatalities wouldn't be such big news that ti would attract 44 lawyers and bankrupt a railroad.

[tree68]

Murphy Siding

...44... lawyers

Only 44?

[Euclid]

Here is a newspaper article published right after the wreck.  This is published as having been scanned, so there are some weird typos, but it is clear enough to read.  Interestingly, it blames the collision on the Meadow Tower operator for lining up for two trains to cross at the same time—something that would be physically impossible.  Blaming the operator must have been an early conclusion arrived at by error.

However, the operator was blamed for lining up for the excursion train when it rang in rather than lining up for the Reading train which was due, but had not yet rung in.  I supposed that it was believed that the operator knew where the Reading train was, and that it was shortly due.    

It certainly was a dramatic wreck to have one passenger train slice right through the first car of another passenger train. 

It seems somewhat of a coincidence this was intended to be the last run of the engineer who ran past the stop signal and was killed.  He was going to quit the railroad after this last run.  The gravity of the accident also killed the engineer’s wife who was not even there.  She was instantly killed by the shock of the news of what happened to her husband.   

**************************************************** 

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18960731.2.2

 

TERRIBLE RAILROAD ACCIDENT IN NEW JERSEY.

An Excursion Train Run Into at a Crossing by a Fast Express,

Wrecking the Latter's Engine and Five Passenger Cars.

Forty People Kiled, So Far as Known, and Eighty Others Badly Injured— The Operator at the Tower Near the Crossing Responsible for the Accident, Having Left the Signals Open for the Trains to Pass.

ATLANTIC CITY (N. J.). July 30. —A terrible railroad catastrophe took place on the Meadows about two miles out of this city shortly after 6:30 o'clock this afternoon, resulting in the death oi forty-two people, so far as can be learned, and the injuring of eighty others.

A train left here consisting" of seven cars over the West Jersey Railroad, bearing a special excursion of Red Men and their friends of Bridgeton, N. J., and Salem, and had reached the crossing of the Reading Railroad, "when it was struck by the 5:40 down express from Philadelphia, demolishing two cars and telescoping the two following. The engine of the Beading train became a total wreck, killing the engineer and fatally injuring the fireman, and the car following was also thrown from the track and many of its occupants killed.*

It is thought that William Thorlow, the operator at the block tower near the crossing, was to blame for the accident.

Leaving this city the tracks of the West Jersey road run parallel to those of the Camden and Atlantic until after they cross the draw-t ridge, when they switch off to the south, crossing the Reading at an obtuse angle. John Gretaer, the engineer of the West Jersey train, saw the Reading train approaching the crossing at a swift speed, but as the signals were open for him to proceed on his way he continued. 3iis engine had barely cleared the track c>f the Reading when the locomotive of the latter train, which left Philadelphia at 5:40 p. m.. struck the first car full in the center, throwing it far < B the track into a ditch near by and v. as completely submerged. The second car of the West Jersey train was also carried into the ditch, the third and fourth being telescoped. The enpine of the Reading train was thrown to the other side of the track, carrying with it the first coach.

A few minutes after the collision, to add to the \orror of the situation, the boiler of the Reading locomotive exploded, scalding several to death and casting its boiling spray over many of the injured passengers.

As soon as the news reached this city it spread broadcast, and thousands of people flocked to the scene. The road leading to the place of the collision was a constant procession of hacks, 'buses and bicycles and all kinds of vehicles, while thousands of pedestrians hurried tilong the path to render what assistance they could or-to satisfy their curiosity.

Darkness quickly fell, and the work of rescuing the injured and dead bodies was carried out under the glare of huge bonfires. It was a grewsome sight presented to onlookers as the mangled and burnt forms of the dead were carried from the wreckage which bound them and laid side by side on the gravel bank near the track, with no other pall than th~ few old newspapers gathered from the passengers.

The injured were quickly gathered ttopether and carried by train and magon to the Atlantic City Hospital, where six of them died shortly after their arrival. The old excursion house at the foot of Mississippi avenue was converted Into a morgue, and thither She dead were takers At a late hour to-night there were twenty-nine bodies laid out there, none of which had been identified.

This city was terribly excited over tty of the excursion house and the City Hospital, as well as the mad leading to the scene of the accident, were packed with people anxious to learn the tidings.

The Brighton and Salem excursionists who escaped injury were brought back to this city and sent home on a apeotal train several hours later in the evening.

James Hoyt. Secretary of the Dejartment of Public Safety.immediately upon learning the extent of the catastrophe, telegraphed fur the Philadelphia emergency corps, 160 of whom i» Bponded and hurried to this city on a special train, which left Philadelphia at 10:4 a o'clock. These surgeons materially aided the volunteer corps of this city, which embraced alm«>st very phy*fctan at present within its eon--3.!..-s. Many of the injured were taken to hotels after the City Hospital became overcrowded. About thirty of the injured had their wounds dressed and were able to proceed Dn their way

It is expected that fully a dozen of those now lying in the hospital will not survive their injuries.

Mrs. Edward Farr, the wife of the Heading engineer who met death while performing his duty, and was found with one hand on the throttle cmd the other on the brake, when informed of the accident and her husband's tragic death, was unable to withstand the shock and fell to the lloor dead.

The list of the identified dead Is: Mr. and Mrs. Trenchard, Bridgeton; Edward Farr. engineer of the Reading Train Atlantic City; Samuel Thorn, baggagemaster, Pennsylvania Railroad, Atlantic City; P. S. Murphy. Millville. N. J.; J. D. Johnson; I). Bonghas, Bridgeton; O. B. Taylor; P. R. Goldsmith and wife. Bridgeton; Samuel Smith. Atlantic City; D. E. Wood, Philadelphia; John Greiner, Brldg :mi Charles Ackler, Salem; Charles lie(,.ar. Bridgeton; Franklin Dubois, [Woodruff; Mrs. J. Earnest. Bridgeton. ( Following is a list of the injured:

Mrs. M. Keiger, Elmer, N. J., back badly hurt and head cut; Jacob Johnson, Shirley, N. J., head hurt, wife supposed to be dead and child badly hurt; Stanley A. Wensell, Alloway. N. J., scalp nearly torn off; Fred Sheeney, Bridget on, back hurt and internal injury; Mrs. S. Johnson, Shirley, N. J., shoulder, head and breast bruised; Mary Shimp, Freesboro, N. J., head cuit; William Baughn, Bridgeton, back hurt and head severely cut; Chas. C. Rinck, Bridgeton, badly cut about head, small child saved; Violet Alfred, Bridgeton, face and nose fractured; Mrs. L/aura Pierce, Bridgeton, badly cut about head and body bruised; William Simpkins, Salem, head lacerated; Mason Worth, 823 North Twelfth street, Philadelphia, back Injured; Albert Trainor, Bridgeton, head cut; William Houghton, Zeeley, Bridgeton, head cut; Chester Burger, Bridgeton, hip injured; Howard Woodlawn, Bridgeton, arm broken; ex-Judge Hitchman, Bridgeton, internal injuries; Mrs. Hitchman, his wife, concussion of brain; Mrs. E. A. Abbott, Bridgeton, back broken; David Freize, address unknown, neck dislocated; Mrs. Job Rega, Elmer, N. V., bruised and hurt about head; Albert Taylor, Bridgeton, three scalp wounds; Jacob Hilton, Bridgeton, bruised badly about head; Thomas F. Morrell, Bridgeton, broken leg and internal injuries; Harry Watson, Yorkiton, N. J., leg broken and head injured; Lizzie Ruter, Bridgeton, contusion of back; Charles W. Homer, fractured leg and internal injuries; Frank Morrell, East Orange, N. J., dislocated shoulder and bruised head; Wesley Lee, Bridgeton, internal injuries; Fred D. Chenway, Bridgeton, internal injuries; Mrs. Faunce Fralinger, Pennsylvania, broken leg, have to be amputated; John S. Kelley, Camden, compound fracture of arm, internal injuries, probably fatal; Samuel Multz, Bridgeton; W. R. Spaulding, guest of Royal College, Howard; Howard Smalley, Bridgeton; W. C. Hamsley and wife, Bridgeton; Mrs. E. A. Abbott, Rhodeston, N. J.; Lizzie Smalley, Bridgeton; C. D. Fraser and wife, Bridgeton; Irwin Dubois.

Charles C. Rinick of Bridgton, who was in the excursion party, was in one of the chair cars. He escaped with severe bruises, and so far as his agitation would permit told the story of his experience. "Wh< n we saw that a collision was unavoidable," be said, "the scene in our car was terrific. Women fainted and men rushed In mad panic for the door, but it came almost before we had time to think. One car was cut right in two, and the other portion of it left the track and tumbled over. Every car was crowded, and It is horrible to think of the numbers who must be lying under those ruins.

' The roof of one of the cars In a mass, and everybody in that car was burled under it. It simply dropped on top of the people. I know positively of two in our car who were killed. They « era Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bell of Bridgeton. Their daughter was in another car further back, and was not hurt. I don't know who is to blame. When we were about two miles out from Atlanta City, N. J., we came to a stop out in the Meadows and stayed there for several minutes, but I do not know why. I think there must have been fully eighty killed. The only person with me was my sixyi ar-old son, and he was not hurt, thank God."

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

The head-on collision on the North Pennsylvania Railroad (later Reading) in the article above ("Seventy-Eight Years Later" by William S. Lee) is quite familiar to me.  I grew up about 3 miles east of the town of Ambler and its train station, and the number of times I've ridden the Reading and later SEPTA from or through there is in the hundreds.  There are historical markers and plaques about it, as well as occasional articles - it's a well-known story locally.

Here's a link to an NHRS post about the 150th commemoration of it, at the former Fellwick station, which is very close to where it happened:

http://www.trainweb.org/phillynrhs/RPOTD060717.html 

Ironically, 100 years later almost to the day there was another spectacular train wreck nearby - only 1 train that time, though, and no injuries or deaths - described in this short article about the Fort Washington Fire Co.:

http://patch.com/pennsylvania/upperdublin/from-the-fwfc-fort-washingtons-other-great-train-wreck 

My father shot some 16mm film of the wreckage a few days later.  The PRR quickly replaced the truss bridge with a wooden trestle and a short steel girdes span over the Reading tracks.  It lasted many years (50 ?), and a few years ago was replaced with steel trestle.  This was on the line known as the Trenton Cut-Off. 

As it happens, I was down in that area a couple times a few weeks ago.  I drove past the PRR trestle about half a dozen times, and was within 1/4 mile of the site of the 1856 collision.  I expect to be in that rea off and on over the next year or so. 

- Paul North. 

[BaltACD]

Murphy Siding

I find it odd to think about the idea of a railroad accident that caused 44 fatalities wouldn't be such big news that ti would attract 44 lawyers and bankrupt a railroad.

There probably weren't 44 lawyers between Philadelphia and Atlantic City a the time, besides at the time life was cheap and short anyway.

[wanswheel]

NY Times articles about ‘44 Lives’ crash

The Coroner at Work  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F03E1D6113AE533A25752C0A96E9C94679ED7CF

Farr, the Dead, Blamed  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0DE1DF1E3AE533A25756C0A96E9C94679ED7CF

Three Meadow Wreck Verdicts  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9803E6DE1E3AE533A2575BC0A96E9C94679ED7CF

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

BaltACD

Murphy Siding

I find it odd to think about the idea of a railroad accident that caused 44 fatalities wouldn't be such big news that ti would attract 44 lawyers and bankrupt a railroad.

There probably weren't 44 lawyers between Philadelphia and Atlantic City a the time, besides at the time life was cheap and short anyway. 

Between Camden, NJ (where the train actually started) and Atlantic City - no, likely not 44 lawyers in that mostly rural scrub pine and marshy region.

[Murphy Siding]

Awe come on.  Back when the Rock Island needed a lawyer when some riverboat took down their Mississippi River bridge, they were able to find an attorney  way out west-an honest one at that.

[Deggesty]

Murphy Siding

Awe come on.  Back when the Illinois Central needed a lawyer when some riverboat took down their Mississippi River bridge, they were able to find an attorney  way out west-an honest one at that.

 

You did mean the Rock Island, did you not?

[Euclid]

Re- Meadow Tower collision

It is fascinating how hard they tried to blame the tower operator for the crash.  Maybe they let the emotion of the fact that while the blame rightfully rested with the dead engineer, they did not want to add to his misfortune by blaming the wreck on him.  It is equally fascinating how much uncertainty they could introduce to the crystal clear decisiveness of interlocking plant controlled crossing. 

As I mentioned above, this gray area in introduced by the other rule being interpreted to be in tandem with the interlocker—the other rule being to give priority to the Reading RR trains.  With this rule, any time a Reading train violates the crossing signal set at stop, the company can blame the tower operator for not giving the train a clear signal.  That is a defect in the logic of the system.  The rule also requires the tower operator to know where Reading trains are before they are visible or ring the indicator bell.

The problem this poses for the tower operator is that if he held a non-Reading train that had rung in, and thereby known to be closely approaching the crossing; and at the same time, if he had given the clear signal to a Reading train that was due, but had not rung in; he might seriously delay the train that was waiting at the crossing in favor of a train whose arrival was entirely uncertain.   

The operator’s job would have been easy if he were permitted to simply line up for scheduled Reading trains and hold all conflicting traffic until the Reading train passed, but that would be entirely impractical and impose unnecessary burden on the road with secondary priority at the crossing. 

So the operator is required to speculate about the arrival of Reading trains, and use discretion.  He clearly explained that he did just that, but his speculation was incorrect.  Yet they still tried to blame him for the catastrophe.  Talk about a Catch-22!

So the jury blamed the engineer who ran the red signal, but they also blamed the tower operator secondarily.  But most bizarrely, they also blamed the engineer of the excursion train for not exercising greater care in crossing.    He had a clear signal and was with within the speed limit.  Assuming that he knew the conflicting train was approaching (and we don’t know that he did), how could he have been more careful? 

[wanswheel]

Excerpt from The Philadelphia Lawyer, Winter 2002

Andrew Hamilton (1676-1741) is best remembered for his successful defense of printer John Peter Zenger against charges of seditious libel in the Royalist Supreme Court of New York in 1735. The jury's "not guilty" verdict was later described by Constitutional Convention delegate Gouverneur Morris as "the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America." The verdict was also described in the press as having been brought about by Zenger's "smart Philadelphia lawyer," an appellation that has endured to the present day. A native of Scotland, Hamilton came to America in 1697 and, after reading the law, was admitted to the bar of the Chesapeake Peninsula of Virginia. He later moved to Kent County, Maryland, and then to Philadelphia. Hamilton represented the family of William Penn. He served as recorder of Philadelphia, prothonotary of the Supreme Court and as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1732, he designed and supervised the construction of Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

[wanswheel]

Euclid

It is fascinating how hard they tried to blame the tower operator for the crash.   

I think his arrest automatically made him look guilty of something.

Excerpt from The Scranton Republican, Aug. 1, 1896

[Coroner McLaughlin] went directly into the block tower and questioned Operator George F. Houser. Houser told him that he thought the excursion train had time to cross the tracks of the Reading before the express got there and he set the "clear signal for the West Jersey train…

Before Hauser could make a further explanation to the coroner he received an order from the railroad officials to say nothing. He obeyed and would make no further explanation. Pending an investigation Houser was put under arrest by the coroner…

This evening Mr. McLaughlin released Operator Houser on $500 bail to be answerable to the verdict of the coroner's jury. Houser is a young man and when brought before the coroner appeared cool and composed. After his release a reporter for the United Press asked him for a statement of how the accident occurred. Houser refused to talk, only saying that his explanation would be made later. The railroad officials of both companies here will not talk and it is difficult to definitely lay the blame for the accident.

[Murphy Siding]

Deggesty

 

Murphy Siding

Awe come on.  Back when the Illinois Central needed a lawyer when some riverboat took down their Mississippi River bridge, they were able to find an attorney  way out west-an honest one at that.

 

 

 

 

You did mean the Rock Island, did you not?

 

 

Illinois Central / Rock Island, same thing aren’t they?


I went back and corrected my post.  Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Euclid]

wanswheel

 

Euclid

It is fascinating how hard they tried to blame the tower operator for the crash.   

 

 

 

I think his arrest automatically made him look guilty of something.

 

Perhaps his arrest did make him seem guilty.   But he must have already looked guilty in order for there to have been a reason to arrest him. 

The key point is that there was absolutely nothing a tower operator could do to cause a collision at that crossing, even if he wanted to. 

So we are left with the incredibly warped thinking that the operator was at fault for not giving a clear signal to an engineer who would not stop for a stop signal. 

[jeffhergert]

We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of the circus train wreck that happened in 1918.  A little later than Murphy's original 1900 date, but disaster knows no calendar.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_Circus_Train_Wreck

Jeff

[Murphy Siding]

jeffhergert

We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of the circus train wreck that happened in 1918.  A little later than Murphy's original 1900 date, but disaster knows no calendar.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_Circus_Train_Wreck

Jeff

 

  Is that when the clowns first escaped into the woods where they've been hiding ever since, just waiting, biding their time?

[jeffhergert]

Murphy Siding

 

 

jeffhergert

We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of the circus train wreck that happened in 1918.  A little later than Murphy's original 1900 date, but disaster knows no calendar.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_Circus_Train_Wreck

Jeff

 

 

 

 

  Is that when the clowns first escaped into the woods where they've been hiding ever since, just waiting, biding their time?

 

 

No, I don't think so.

http://weeklyview.net/2013/06/20/the-hagenbeck-wallace-circus-train-disaster/

The following is a quote from the above article.

 

"There were numerous pitiful scenes at the wreck and later in the hospitals. Joe Coyle, a clown, convulsed on a stretcher and wept bitterly beside the bodies of his wife and two babies who had been crushed to death just inches away from him inside one of the death cars."

Jeff

 

[wanswheel]

Conductor: “This is quite a bad mess we got into.”

Engineer: “I must have been dozing.”

https://archive.org/stream/railwayage64newy#page/1570/mode/2up

https://archive.org/stream/railwayage65newy#page/116/mode/2up

[rrnut282]

One fascinating tidbit in the articles posted by wanswheel was that police had to beat the onlookers with clubs to keep them out of the way.  

[CandOforprogress2]

Which was the main reason why Railroad Retirement and survivers benfits was established and exists today. Life Expentacy was short for RR workers back in the day and a accdent even today can be life changing. The railroad is still a unforgiving place.

[RME]

See the latter half of Railway Age's discussion of the Ivanhoe circus-train wreck.  Many of the issues and concerns expressed there appear to be very much still with us in connection with current issues including the Hoboken, Chicago L, Panhandle and Philadelphia incidents.

[Convicted One]

Here is a little feature story on the perils of travel that ran in the Sept 23, 1865 issue of Harper's weekly:

 

[Euclid]

A big cause of wrecks in the 1850-1900 period was bridge collapses.  In 1887, for example, 21 bridges fell down under trains. 

In addition to the manual staff brake and the link and pin couplers, the Grim Reaper was a big fan of the all-wood passenger car.  As passenger trains quickly grew longer and heavier after the 1850s, the wooden cars were the weak link.  In any serious collision, they demonstrated their ability to telescope, which amounted to one car effectively swallowing the car next to it with the shock of a collision.  It was possible for several cars to merge together like the closing of a telescope.  You can imagine the consequences for the passengers as the next car plowed through their car like a tight fitting piston.

From the book called Train Wrecks:

“Telescoping of passenger cars, figuring as it did in almost all of the great wrecks, was premier among the horrors of rail travel.  At Camp Hill, Revere, Chatsworth, Secaucus, and Silver Creek, to list only a few—in all of these wrecks telescoping was the greatest killer.  Charles Francis Adams, railroad accident authority and Railroad Commissioner for Massachusetts, stated that at least half of the deaths and injuries in rail accidents in his time were caused by the telescoping of passenger cars.”

Actually, the link and pin couplers complemented the all wood car construction in facilitating telescoping.  The couplers had a lot of slack, were not in line with the car center sill, and permitted one car to override another with the shock of a collision.  One of the most significant improvements in preventing telescoping was the Miller platform, buffer system, and hook coupler:

http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/dictionary/millerhook.htm 

[RME]

Euclid

A big cause of wrecks in the 1850-1900 period was bridge collapses. In 1887, for example, 21 bridges fell down under trains.

Most of the bridge collapses weren't causes of wholesale death all by themselves.  And much of the telescoping problem with wood cars -- the kind of telescoping that compressed a car full of people into paste, anyway; the kind of telescoping that began to appear distressingly more with mixes of steel-underframe and full-steel cars -- was pretty well solved as you note with a combination of anticlimber and positive-engagement coupler.  (There is some argument about how much good was actually done with strengthened car ends in the 1890s.).  The real thing to avoid was having one car so much stronger than the other that it would force the sides and roof up enough to penetrate, but not enough to compromise the car's strength as a tube ... so victims had nowhere to go and no way to get out.

The thing that caused the real deaths and horror was the combination of seasoned wood construction, plenty of varnish inside and out, and individual stoves.  In a word: fire.  Safety Baker stoves were probably not that much of an improvement (I suspect sparks shot out before the water bottom got everything doused, etc.)  You will notice over and over again, even in the small representative cross-section of accidents wanswheel is posting, how very many people even with severe injuries would have kept their lives were it not for the very rapid and unquenchable spread of fire combined with heavy enough construction to make even the strongest hand tools ineffective.

[Euclid]

One of the worst train wrecks (if not the worst) was the Chatsworth wreck of 1887 on the Toledo, Peoria & Western RR.  This was caused by the burning out of a very small bridge—basically just a culvert.  The first locomotive made it across the bridge, but the second one derailed, and the cars piled up in a dreadful series of telescopes as they jammed into derailed locomotive as well as the water ditch associated with the small bridge. 

There are many links to this wreck.  This one seems fairly ideal with information and photographs.  It even shows the site in this present era.  The plain culvert in flat land belies the horror that unfolded here on a hot summer night in 1887.

http://docplayer.net/3630781-April-aso-magazine-column-death-and-destruction-in-chatsworth-illinois.html