1918 Was A Train Wreck - Literally
As the War to End All Wars (what a bitterly ironic name that they called that awful war at the time) finally came to an end, and the death and carnage throughout the world seemingly couldn't get any worse, it did. Sadly the Spanish Flu outbreak began to spread and put a final exclamation point on this extremely depressing year. It seemed like nowhere was safe from death and destruction, including railway passengers in USA. 1918 was the deadliest year for railroad deaths in American history. Unbelievably three of the six deadliest railroad accidents in American history all occurred in 1918.
Here is a list that I have complied about the worst railroad disaster ever on American soil in descending order by death toll:
1918 - 101 deaths in Nashville, TN1904 - 97 deaths - Pueblo, CO1910 - 96 deaths - Wellington, WA1918 - 93 deaths in Brooklyn NY (some estimates claim over 100 deaths)1876 - 92 deaths- Ashtabula, OH1918 - 86 deaths - Hammond, IN
As you can see, 1918 was a horrific year for train passengers and it included the deadliest one of all. Here's a brief overview of the three accidents from this most tragic year.
The deadliest accident, known as The Great Train Wreck occurred on July 9, at 7:00 AM. Two passenger trains collided head on in a catastrophic crash. The 'awful noise' could be heard for miles according to witnesses. One of the trains has just left the station, and the reason for the collision was that the other train was arriving at the station on the same track 35 minutes ahead of schedule.
(New York Times headline about the accident)
The Malbone Street Wreck was a devastating subway accident that occurred in Brooklyn on November 1, just after 7:00 PM. (This was only 10 days before the Armistice was signed to end WW1) The accident was caused when the subway was exiting a tunnel at 40 mph onto a sharply curved overpass when the suggested speed limit was less than 10 mph. The train derailed and cars skidded down the street, leaving a trail of destruction and even crashing through homes and buildings. It was such awful carnage that witnesses claimed that it 'destroyed an entire city block'.
The Great Circus Train Accident occurred in the early predawn hours of June 22 in rural Indiana, near the town of Hammond. The accident was caused when an engineer of a locomotive fell asleep and rammed into the back of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train. The fact that it was a circus train added a surreal element to this tragedy. No circus animals were on board, for they were sent ahead on another train.
Since the most awful year of 1918, I'm so very glad that there are less deaths due to war, less deaths due to pandemics, and also much safer rail transit systems.
(Photo at the top is of the Brooklyn crash)
Source for the Nashville crash information and photo -
https://unrememberedhistory.com/2015/05/15/two-trains-one-track-the-great-train-wreck-of-1918/
Source for the Brooklyn crash information and photo and NYT headline -
http://narrative.ly/crash-of-the-century/
Source for the Indiana crash information and photo -
@originalworks