Hightstown Railroad Accident

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When railway accident in Hightstown derailed due to a hot runner followed by broken axle on 8 November 1833 between Hightstown and Spotswood on the railway line South Amboy Bordentown a train of Camden and Amboy Railroad . One car overturned, another derailed. Two passengers were killed and 21 of the 24 passengers were injured. It was the first railway accident in which passengers on a scheduled train were killed.

initial situation

The accident only occurred two months after steam locomotives instead of horses were harnessed to the trains on the route . The train was initially traveling at around 55 km / h, then at around 35 km / h after the axles had to be re-oiled.

Course of events

At this speed, one of the passenger coaches overheated , which in turn led to an axle break, the coach overturned and another one derailed. The rest of the train stayed on the track and was able to continue its journey later.

Victim

One passenger was killed immediately, another died later from the injuries sustained. Among the survivors was Cornelius Vanderbilt , who broke a leg and took a month to recover from the injuries. He later owned the New York Central Railroad . Unharmed because he was traveling in a front car, former US President John Quincy Adams , now a congressman on his way to Washington, DC, arranged for an ad hoc official investigation to be carried out on site to preserve evidence. Another passenger on the train was the Belgian envoy to the USA .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
  2. ↑ Eyewitness account of the traveling Irish actor Tyrone Power (1795–1841) .
  3. ↑ John Quincy Adams wrote about the accident in his diary: "Blessed, ever blessed be the name of God, that I am alive and have escaped unhurt from the most dreadful catastrophe that ever my eyes beheld!" (Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God that I escaped alive and unharmed from the most terrible catastrophe I have ever seen!)
  4. ↑ John Quincy Adams diary entry (transcription) .
  5. ↑ Eyewitness account of the traveling Irish actor Tyrone Power (1795–1841) .

Coordinates: 40 ° 14 ′ 39.6 "  N , 74 ° 34 ′ 37.1"  W.