Corning Railway Accident
The Corning railroad accident was a rear-end collision that occurred on July 4, 1912 in Gibson near Corning , New York , USA . 39 people died.
the accident
Visibility was poor that day due to light fog. The train protection on the route of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was secured by automatic route block. A freight train drove here , which broke down with a technical problem. It was followed by a special train with day trippers from Hoboken , New Jersey , to Niagara Falls , which carried both older cars with wooden bodies and newer cars with steel bodies. After this train had come to a stop behind the freight train, the following express train , which was also on the way from Hoboken to Niagara Falls, was sent a brakeman to ensure that the following train stopped. The brakeman ran towards this train, but did not put any crackers on the rails . The engine driver of the express train had drunk alcohol and did not perceive either the distant signal indicating "Attention" or the main signal indicating "Stop" , which covered the special train. He also did not see the brakeman who ran towards him and signaled "Stop" with a red flag. The express train rammed into the end of the special train at almost 100 km / h. The last car with wooden superstructures to run there was smashed, the steel sleeping car in front of it remained structurally intact, but smashed the car in front of it.
consequences
39 people died. 86 were also injured. The number of victims would have been even higher if some of the passengers hadn't left the broken-down special train to stretch their feet.
See also
literature
- Edgar A. Haine: Railroad Wrecks . 1993. ISBN 0-8453-4844-2
- Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 .