1938 South Jordan rail crossing disaster | |
---|---|
Details | |
Date | December 1, 1938 8:43 am |
Location | South Jordan, Utah |
Coordinates | 40°32′56″N111°54′08″W / 40.54889°N 111.90222°W |
Country | United States |
Line | Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad |
Incident type | Collision |
Statistics | |
Bus | 1 |
Trains | 1 |
Deaths | 24 |
Injured | 15 |
The 1938 South Jordan rail crossing disaster was a collision between a school bus and a train at a level crossing resulting in the deaths of 24 people, 23 of whom were students on their way to school. The accident is the basis for an urban legend in San Antonio, Texas. [1]
On the morning of December 1, 1938, a school bus being driven by Farrold Silcox was heading towards Jordan High School. The weather that morning created a thick fog which decreased visibility immensely. As the bus prepared to cross the grade, a Freight Train called "The Flying Ute" was approaching carrying 80 cars, and accelerating at a pace of 50 miles per hour. By the time the engineer saw the bus, there wasn't enough time for the brakes to slow down the train. [2]
The ensuing collision killed 24 on the bus, including Silcox. 15 students managed to survive the crash, but with serious injuries. It is the worst railroad crossing accident involving a school bus in U.S. history. [3]
A memorial was erected nearby at South Jordan Cemetery to commemorate the accident. The plaque lists the names of all of those killed in the collision. [4]
The legal aftermath of the accident mandated that all buses be required to stop at level grades before passing. A "lookout" was also temporarily required, which mandated that another employee get off of the bus at every grade crossing and check for oncoming trains. [3]
While the site in South Jordan is not known to be haunted, this incident inspired an urban legend in San Antonio, Texas. One of the crossings was said to be the site of this catastrophe. The legend goes that any car that is stranded on the tracks will be pushed off by invisible hands believed to belong to the children that perished in this accident. [1] However, this might be explained by the occurrence of a gravity hill. [5]
There is no proof that a bus was ever hit by a train at the supposed intersection and is likely a case of residents misremembering the South Jordan bus accident due to how the newspaper was printed. [1]
South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, 18 miles (29 km) south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) Oquirrh Mountains and the 11,000-foot (3,400 m) Wasatch Mountains. The city has 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of the Jordan River Parkway that contains fishing ponds, trails, parks, and natural habitats. The Salt Lake County fair grounds and equestrian park, 67-acre (27 ha) Oquirrh Lake, and 37 public parks are located inside the city. As of 2020, there were 77,487 people in South Jordan.
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