Bagley Railway Accident

The Bagley railroad accident was the rear-end collision of two trains on December 31, 1944, about 17 miles west of Ogden , Utah , USA , at the Bagley facility . 50 people died.

Starting position

The transcontinental link Chicago – San Francisco runs west of Ogden on two dams through the Great Salt Lake , which connect to the Promontory Peninsula in the middle of the lake . This section of the route is known as the en: Lucin Cutoff . On the eastern dam, between Ogden and the peninsula, there was a turnout Bagley .

The route was occupied by three trains in a row, a freight train and the two parts of the Pacific Limited of the Southern Pacific , which was run in two trains that day. The first part of the train, which carried the passenger cars , comprised 18 cars. These included two staffed hospital vans from the Medical Corps of the United States Army . Numerous military personnel on vacation traveled on the train. The second part of the train, in which the mail cars were lined up, carried 20 cars. The trains had left Chicago two days earlier with the destination San Francisco .

On the morning of the day of the accident, there was thick fog .

the accident

The freight train ahead had a technical problem and fell on the line. As a result, the first section of the Pacific Limited also had to stop and then received a signal to continue the journey at only low speed. The engine driver of the second, now following part of the Pacific Limited did not follow the signals. He died in the accident. The autopsy showed that he had died of heart failure or shock, so possibly no longer fit to drive before the accident. According to the stoker , he had already reacted with a delay beforehand. In any case, he drove on at full speed. At 5:14 a.m., his train collided with the front end of the Pacific Limited at the Bagley siding . Several cars were smashed in the process. This mainly affected older wagons that still had a wooden structure. Numerous wagons of the approaching train also derailed .

consequences

50 people died and 79 were also injured. Due to the location of the accident site in the Great Salt Lake, help could only be brought in via the embankment . Thus, first aid , first made by the staff of the two carried ambulances that had the accident survived relatively unscathed.

See also

• List of rail accidents in the United States

literature

• Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC): Investigation No. 2586 .
• Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , pp. 112-113.
• William L Waugh: Living With Hazards, Dealing With Disasters: An Introduction to Emergency Management . 2000. ISBN 0-7656-0196-6

Web links

• Stu Beitler: Bagley, UT Train Wreck .
• Leigh Dethman: Great Salt Lake wreck stole headlines in 1944. Train crash claimed 50 lives on New Year's Eve . In: Desert News Utah January 1, 2005. (Accessed December 10, 2016).
• NN: Southern Pacific Train Wreck, Bagley, Weber County, Utah In: Ogden Standard-Examiner January 1, 1945.

Remarks

1. ↑ Stu Beitler names 48 dead. This can possibly be explained by when the number was recorded and later deceased as a result of the consequences of the accident are not included.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Semmens.
2. ^ Southern Pacific Train Wreck .
3. ↑ Dethman; Waugh, panel 4-2; Semmens.
4. ^ Southern Pacific Train Wreck .

Coordinates: 41 ° 14 ′ 18.9 ″  N , 112 ° 18 ′ 36.7 ″  W.