Forest Hills disaster

Forest Hills disaster

A drawing of the accident scene, as published in The Boston Globe
Date	March 14, 1887(138 years ago) (1887-03-14)
Time	Shortly after 7:00 am
Location	Roslindale, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Coordinates	42°17′38″N71°07′23″W / 42.2938°N 71.1231°W / 42.2938; -71.1231
Cause	Bridge collapse under load
Deaths	38
Non-fatal injuries	40

The Forest Hills disaster (also called the Forest Ridge disaster and the Bussey Bridge train disaster) was a railroad bridge accident that occurred on March 14, 1887, in the Roslindale section of Boston, Massachusetts. The bridge collapsed while a commuter train was crossing it, resulting in 38 deaths.

Accident

A morning commuter train, inbound to Boston, was passing over the Bussey Bridge, a Howe truss, at South Street in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, one-half mile (0.80 km) from the Forest Hills station, when it suddenly collapsed, sending several cars crashing to the street below. Thirty-eight commuters were killed and another 40 were seriously injured. ^{[1] [2]}

The train, made up of nine cars, was traveling over the Dedham Branch of the Boston & Providence Railroad on a sunny Monday morning with about 300 passengers, including several school children. Six miles (9.7 km) from Boston, the train crossed over the Bussey Bridge on its approach to the Forest Hills Station. The locomotive and first two cars crossed the bridge and then suddenly, without any warning, the bridge fell, taking the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cars with it. The shock of the collapse was so quick and forceful that the body of one of the cars fell and its roof tore off completely and landed on the embankment beyond the bridge. ^[2]

Reports of the disaster appeared on the front page of major newspapers, ^{[3] [4] [5]} highlighting the suffering of the injured, as some were transfixed by splinters throughout their bodies, others were dismembered, and yet others were badly mangled. The first body that rescuers pulled from the wreck was that of a headless woman. Two young men were pinned under a pile of rubble with a car stove full of glowing coals hanging over them. Fortunately, the doors of the stove stayed closed and the bolts held firmly and they were rescued. ^[6]

Investigation

The accident location in 2016. A stone arch bridge, which replaced the bridge destroyed in the disaster, remains in use.

An investigation found that the iron bridge design was poor; it was not strong enough to carry the load of traffic it had to serve. Its designer, Edmund Hewins, was exposed as a fraud. Investigators found that the railroad had also failed to inspect and properly maintain the bridge, even though nuts and bolts were discovered which had fallen from the bridge and were lying on the street below. ^{[2] [7]}

See also

• List of disasters in Massachusetts by death toll

References

1. "Bussey Bridge Disaster: Feature News Account". The Boston Daily Globe . March 15, 1887 – via Jamaica Historical Society.
2. Reed, Robert C. (1968). Train Wrecks - A Pictorial History of Accidents on the Main Line . New York: Bonanza Books. ISBN   0-517-32897-6.
3. "Six Cars Fall Fifty Feet". The Sun . New York City. March 15, 1887. p. 1. Retrieved September 30, 2025– via newspapers.com.
4. "Another Bridge Horror: A Train Falls Thirty Feet, Many Passengers Crushed to Death". The Sun . Baltimore. March 15, 1887. p. 1. Retrieved September 30, 2025– via newspapers.com.
5. "Over Thirty Killed: And Nearly Seventy Injured in Another Railroad Accident". The Times . Philadelphia. March 15, 1887. p. 1. Retrieved September 30, 2025– via newspapers.com.
6. "Hurled to their deaths" (PDF). The New York Times . March 14, 1887. Retrieved September 9, 2016– via TimesMachine.
7. Karr, Ronald D. (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England - A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press. ISBN   0-942147-02-2.

Further reading

• Bussey Bridge Wreck, 1887 at Celebrate Boston