Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
On January 15, 1953, a Pennsylvania Railroad train, the "Federal," wrecked at Union Station.
I had this ready to go yesterday, but I spent the day doing other things, like cooking.
I bound some bound volumes of Trains magazine from the early 1950s back in 1967. Among the issues I bought was the one with an article about this wreck. This was the first time I read an account of this wreck.
As an aside, it was on January 15, 1938, that the Pennsylvania Railroad inaugurated electrified passenger service all the way between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. That's as far as the electrified passenger lines reached. For freight trains, the electrified service extended as far west as Enola Yard, on the west bank of the Susquehanna.
1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck
Wreckage of train
Details
Date: January 15, 1953; 8:38 A.M.
Location: Union Station, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates: 38.8988°N 77.0061°W
Passengers: 400
Deaths: 0
Injured: 43
The 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck was a railway accident in Union Station in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1953. The brakes on the cars of Train #173, the Federal, a passenger and mail train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, malfunctioned and the train crashed into the station, jumped the passenger platform, and plunged through the floor of the passenger concourse into the basement of the train station. Miraculously, there were no deaths, but 43 people were injured in the incident.
{snip}
Description of the accident
The Federal (No. 173), was a southbound, Boston-to-Washington, D.C., overnight train carrying mail and passengers. When the train arrived in New Haven, a New Haven electric locomotive replaced the diesel along with adding several passenger cars from Springfield for the run to New York's Penn Station where PRR GG1 No. 4876, an electric locomotive, was coupled on; the train had 16 coaches and Pullman sleeping cars.
The Federal departed Boston at 11:00 P.M. After making two stops, the train halted at Kingston, Rhode Island, about 70 miles (110 km) south of Boston. Its brakes were sticking, and a 45-minute inspection occurred. Conductors discovered a closed "angle cock" (an air shutoff valve) at the rear of the third car. The airbrake system aboard the rail cars had angle cocks at each end of each car. Both valves had to be open for the airbraking system to operate properly. The only closed angle cocks should have been on the front of the locomotive and at the rear of the final car. Air brakes on trains are powered by a compressed air reservoir aboard each car. The engine supplies air pressure that is supposed to flow through the airbrake system along the entire length of the train. When this pressure is reduced by the engineer, valves on each car cause air pressure from the car's own reservoir to flow into the car's brake cylinder which applies brake shoes against the wheels and slows down the train. If the cars separate or the air pressure is "dumped" by the engineer in an emergency, the pressure immediately drops to zero and all cars in the train will brake to an emergency stop as a fail safe. Closing an angle cock at any point along the system disables this fail-safe and prevents the reduction in air pressure from being able to apply any brakes behind the closed angle cock.
A routine inspection during the train's stop in New York City, inspectors later said, found the angle cock in the correct, open position. But an after-accident investigation by the ICC revealed that the handle of the angle cock at the rear of the third coach was not in the correct position, as a design flaw on New Haven coach #8665 allowed the handle of the angle cock valve to come into contact with the coupler, causing the valve to close. This meant that the engine could only activate the braking power of the first three coaches.
The Federal departed New York City at 4:38 A.M. It made its regularly scheduled stops at Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore. No braking trouble was reported at these stops. It departed Baltimore at 7:50 A.M.
Baltimore was the train's last stop before arriving at Union Station, its final destination. After leaving Baltimore, the train accelerated to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h), its normal speed. As the train neared Landover, Maryland, engineer Henry W. Brower tried to slow the train for its approach into the stub-ended tracks of Washington but the train slowed to just 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Brower activated the emergency brakes, but the train only slowed to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). Brower put the engine into reverse, but the electric engine began malfunctioning due to the stress placed on it. Sparks began flying from the wheels of the engine and first three coaches as they alone tried to slow the train.
The Federal now began descending a 5,500-foot (1,700 m) long section of track on a relatively steep 0.73 percent grade.[2] This caused the train to accelerate. Brower began sounding a distress signal on the engine's air horn.
In the train yard at Union Station, tower operator John Feeney in K Tower set the switches to route the Federal onto Track 16. When the train raced past him at high speed, he telephoned the stationmaster's office. Clerk Ray Klopp picked up the phone. Feeney shouted, "Runaway on Track 16!" Klopp looked up to see the train racing directly toward his office. He shouted, "Run for your lives!" Then he and the other clerks ran out of the office as fast as they could. (They had just 20 seconds to get out of harm's way.) Aboard the train, conductor Thomas J. Murphy ran through the train from end to end, shouting at the passengers to get down as low as they could on the floor or on their seats.
{snip}
Wreckage of train
Details
Date: January 15, 1953; 8:38 A.M.
Location: Union Station, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates: 38.8988°N 77.0061°W
Passengers: 400
Deaths: 0
Injured: 43
The 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck was a railway accident in Union Station in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1953. The brakes on the cars of Train #173, the Federal, a passenger and mail train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, malfunctioned and the train crashed into the station, jumped the passenger platform, and plunged through the floor of the passenger concourse into the basement of the train station. Miraculously, there were no deaths, but 43 people were injured in the incident.
{snip}
Description of the accident
The Federal (No. 173), was a southbound, Boston-to-Washington, D.C., overnight train carrying mail and passengers. When the train arrived in New Haven, a New Haven electric locomotive replaced the diesel along with adding several passenger cars from Springfield for the run to New York's Penn Station where PRR GG1 No. 4876, an electric locomotive, was coupled on; the train had 16 coaches and Pullman sleeping cars.
The Federal departed Boston at 11:00 P.M. After making two stops, the train halted at Kingston, Rhode Island, about 70 miles (110 km) south of Boston. Its brakes were sticking, and a 45-minute inspection occurred. Conductors discovered a closed "angle cock" (an air shutoff valve) at the rear of the third car. The airbrake system aboard the rail cars had angle cocks at each end of each car. Both valves had to be open for the airbraking system to operate properly. The only closed angle cocks should have been on the front of the locomotive and at the rear of the final car. Air brakes on trains are powered by a compressed air reservoir aboard each car. The engine supplies air pressure that is supposed to flow through the airbrake system along the entire length of the train. When this pressure is reduced by the engineer, valves on each car cause air pressure from the car's own reservoir to flow into the car's brake cylinder which applies brake shoes against the wheels and slows down the train. If the cars separate or the air pressure is "dumped" by the engineer in an emergency, the pressure immediately drops to zero and all cars in the train will brake to an emergency stop as a fail safe. Closing an angle cock at any point along the system disables this fail-safe and prevents the reduction in air pressure from being able to apply any brakes behind the closed angle cock.
A routine inspection during the train's stop in New York City, inspectors later said, found the angle cock in the correct, open position. But an after-accident investigation by the ICC revealed that the handle of the angle cock at the rear of the third coach was not in the correct position, as a design flaw on New Haven coach #8665 allowed the handle of the angle cock valve to come into contact with the coupler, causing the valve to close. This meant that the engine could only activate the braking power of the first three coaches.
The Federal departed New York City at 4:38 A.M. It made its regularly scheduled stops at Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore. No braking trouble was reported at these stops. It departed Baltimore at 7:50 A.M.
Baltimore was the train's last stop before arriving at Union Station, its final destination. After leaving Baltimore, the train accelerated to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h), its normal speed. As the train neared Landover, Maryland, engineer Henry W. Brower tried to slow the train for its approach into the stub-ended tracks of Washington but the train slowed to just 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Brower activated the emergency brakes, but the train only slowed to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). Brower put the engine into reverse, but the electric engine began malfunctioning due to the stress placed on it. Sparks began flying from the wheels of the engine and first three coaches as they alone tried to slow the train.
The Federal now began descending a 5,500-foot (1,700 m) long section of track on a relatively steep 0.73 percent grade.[2] This caused the train to accelerate. Brower began sounding a distress signal on the engine's air horn.
In the train yard at Union Station, tower operator John Feeney in K Tower set the switches to route the Federal onto Track 16. When the train raced past him at high speed, he telephoned the stationmaster's office. Clerk Ray Klopp picked up the phone. Feeney shouted, "Runaway on Track 16!" Klopp looked up to see the train racing directly toward his office. He shouted, "Run for your lives!" Then he and the other clerks ran out of the office as fast as they could. (They had just 20 seconds to get out of harm's way.) Aboard the train, conductor Thomas J. Murphy ran through the train from end to end, shouting at the passengers to get down as low as they could on the floor or on their seats.
{snip}
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
