Warrensburg railway accident
In the Warrensburg railway accident near Warrensburg , Missouri , USA , on October 10, 1904, a freight train collided head-on with a passenger train running in the opposite direction . 29 people died.
Starting position
The train protection should be guaranteed on the single-track route of the Missouri Pacific by the fact that the trains ran in a certain, fixed order. A freight train was traveling west. To enable an oncoming passenger train to cross , he waited on a siding . On that day, however, the passenger train ran in two parts, one behind the other at some distance. In order to secure the second part of the passenger train with the train protection method practiced here, the first to travel had a special peak signal that made the locomotive drivers of the trains that the passenger train crossed aware of the second part of the train. Since the second part of the train consisted of the rear wagons of the train, it lacked a baggage wagon that was usually positioned between the locomotive and the train.
the accident
The locomotive driver of the freight train overlooked the special headlights of the first passenger train and drove into the line. The impact on the second part of the passenger train occurred at a speed difference of around 50 km / h. Since the passenger train's locomotive was immediately followed by occupied coaches , they were exposed to the impact without the buffer of the baggage car, which otherwise functions as a protective car. The personnel of both locomotives jumped off before the collision and survived.
useful information
This accident is virtually identical to the Woodville railroad accident , which occurred two years later, and a railroad accident that occurred on October 4, 1910 in Staunton , Illinois .
See also
literature
- Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 .