Roslindale Railway Accident

Drawing of the scene of the accident

In the Roslindale railway accident (in American literature also Forest Hills disaster, Forest Ridge disaster or Bussey Bridge train disaster) in Massachusetts , USA , a bridge collapsed under a train passing over it on March 14, 1887. 24 people died.

Starting position

The Bussey Bridge in Roslindale , now part of Boston , was a truss bridge based on the system developed by William Howe . It was part of a route operated by the Boston and Providence Railroad and crossed a street. It had already been rebuilt twice, in 1869 and 1876. As it turned out later, the responsible “engineer” was an impostor . An endurance test had never taken place either. The bridge had been cleared by a mechanical engineer who knew little about bridge construction.

The morning commuter train consisted of the locomotive , its tender, and nine cars and was on its way to Boston with around 300 travelers . The predominantly wooden passenger cars were heated with coal stoves. The train passed the bridge at about 50 km / h.

the accident

The front part of the train, the locomotive and the first wagons still reached the embankment on the other side . Another car, however, with the bridge collapsing below it, sank down and was smashed at the opposite abutment of the bridge, the following cars fell on the rubble and were also badly damaged. The fire from the charcoal stoves of the wagons ignited the rubble.

consequences

Stone arch bridge that replaced the collapsed bridge

24 people died and 125 were injured.

The collapsed bridge was replaced by a stone arch bridge, which is still in use today.

See also

• List of rail accidents in the United States

literature

• Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England - A Handbook of Railroad History . Branch Line Press 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2
• Bernhard Püschel: Historical railway disasters. A chronicle of accidents from 1840 to 1926 . Freiburg 1977. ISBN 3-88255-838-5
• Robert C. Reed: Train Wrecks - A Pictorial History of Accidents on the Main Line. New York 1968. ISBN 0-517-32897-6

Web links

• Bussey Bridge Disaster . In: Boston Daily Globe March 15, 1887.
• Hurled to their deaths . In: New York Times, March 14, 1887.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reed.
2. ↑ Reed; Karr.
3. ↑ Püschel, p. 52.
4. ^ Reed.
5. ↑ Püschel, p. 52.
6. ↑ Püschel, p. 52; Reed.
7. ↑ Reed; Bussey Bridge Disaster .

Coordinates: 42 ° 17 ′ 37.7 "  N , 71 ° 7 ′ 23.2"  W.