Woodbridge train derailment

Last updated

Woodbridge train derailment
1951 Woodbridge, NJ, train wreck site.jpg
Accident site in 2016
Woodbridge train derailment
Details
DateFebruary 6, 1951
5:43 pm
Location Woodbridge, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°33′06″N74°16′35″W / 40.5518°N 74.2764°W / 40.5518; -74.2764
CountryUnited States
Line North Jersey Coast Line
Operator Pennsylvania Railroad
Incident typeDerailment at diversion
CauseExcessive speed due to lack of signalling
Statistics
Trains1
Deaths85
Injured~500

On February 6, 1951, a Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed on a temporary wooden trestle in Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States, killing 85 passengers. It remains New Jersey's deadliest train wreck, the deadliest U.S. derailment since 1918 and the deadliest peacetime rail disaster in the U.S. history. [1]

Contents

Description

Around 5:00 pm. on Tuesday, February 6, 1951, Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Train #733, nicknamed "The Broker", left Exchange Place in Jersey City. An express train to Bay Head via the North Jersey Coast Line, No. 733 was crowded that day due to a labor strike on the nearby Jersey Central Railroad. It carried over 1,000 passengers [2] in eleven cars drawn by PRR K4s 4-6-2 steam locomotive #2445. [3]

That afternoon, rail traffic through Woodbridge was being diverted onto a temporary wooden trestle and a shoofly near Fulton Street, allowing laborers building the New Jersey Turnpike to work on the main line. A notice had gone out to train engineers in late January after 1:01 pm. on February 6, they were to proceed through Woodbridge not at the normal 60 mph (97 km/h) but at 25 mph (40 km/h). [4] However, the PRR at the time did not require any signal to be in place to warn approaching trains about the diversion, believing the verbal notification to be sufficient. [2]

Before "The Broker" left Jersey City, conductor John Bishop reminded engineman (that is the Pennsylvania Railroad's referring for engineer) Joseph Fitzsimmons about the speed restriction. It was not the railroad's practice to install warning lights in such cases, and Fitzsimmons failed to slow the train as it approached Woodbridge. Bishop, alarmed at the train's speed, tried to pull the emergency cord, but the crush of passengers made this impossible. [2]

The train was traveling faster than 50 mph (80 km/h) when it reached the curve approaching the trestle, according to a subsequent inquiry. At 5:43 pm, the tracks, which were not secured to sleepers but resting in shallow grooves on the top of the trestle, shifted under the massive locomotive, and eight of the train's eleven passenger cars derailed. The first two cars fell on their sides. The third and fourth cars crashed into each other as they hurtled down a 26-foot-high (7.9 m) embankment. It was in these two cars that most of the 85 deaths occurred. The fifth and sixth cars were left hanging in mid-air over a street that glistened from rain. Some passengers may have jumped to their deaths, believing they would land in water.

The accident occurred in a heavily populated area, so first responders soon arrived. Neighbors opened their houses and businesses to those in need. The critically injured were taken to nearby hospitals. [2] [5]

Although Fitzsimmons initially claimed that he had been traveling at only 25 mph (40 km/h), the inquiry estimated that The Broker's speed was between 50 and 60 mph (80 and 97 km/h). Fitzsimmons also stated that he was looking for trackside signals that would've warned him to slow down, but the line between the station and the temporary trestle lacked any. The report concluded that the wreck was caused by "excessive speed on a curve of a temporary track." Fitzsimmons continued working for the PRR until 1953, but never operated a train again. He later passed away in 1976 at age 83, 25 years after the wreck. [2] #2445, the locomotive involved in the wreck, was surprisingly repaired and put back into service despite the extensive damage, only to be retired and scrapped in 1953.

Near the derailment site, the victims are memorialized by a pair of historical markers, installed by New Jersey Transit in 2002 and by Woodbridge Township in 2013. [6] [7]

In the prologue to his 1976 novel Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut references the death of his brother-in-law, James Carmalt Adams, killed in the derailment of "The Brokers' Special", but Adams died in the 1958 Newark Bay rail accident. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Railroad class GG1</span> Class of American electric locomotives

The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 is a class of streamlined electric locomotives built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its striking art deco shell, its ability to pull trains at up to 100 mph, and its long operating career of almost 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Railroad K4 class</span> Class of 425 American 4-6-2 locomotives

The Pennsylvania Railroad K4 was a class of 425 4-6-2 steam locomotives built between 1914 and 1928 for the PRR, where they served as the primary main line passenger steam locomotives on the entire PRR system until late 1957.

The Federal Express was an overnight named passenger train run by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C., and South Station in Boston, from 1912 to 1971. At different times, its route has taken it across the Hudson River via a car float between Port Morris and Jersey City, the Poughkeepsie Bridge, and finally the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad. The final routing was identical to today's high-speed Northeast Corridor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Cut-Off</span> U.S. railway line between Port Morris, New Jersey, and Slateford, Pennsylvania

The Lackawanna Cut-Off was a rail line built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). Constructed from 1908 to 1911, the line was part of a 396-mile (637 km) main line between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York. It ran west for 28.45 miles (45.79 km) from Port Morris Junction in Port Morris, New Jersey, near the south end of Lake Hopatcong about 45 miles (72 km) west-northwest of New York City, to Slateford Junction in Slateford, Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Old Road</span> Former U.S. railway line

The Lackawanna Old Road was part of the original mainline of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W). Opened in 1856, it was, for a half-century, a part of the line connecting the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankford Junction station</span> Former train stop in Pennsylvania; Northeast Corridor-Atlantic City Line meet point

Frankford Junction is a railroad junction, and former junction station, located on the border between the Harrowgate neighborhood of Philadelphia and Frankford, Philadelphia. At the junction, the 4-track Northeast Corridor line from Trenton connects with the 2-track Atlantic City Line from Atlantic City in the northeastern portion of Philadelphia about 2.9 miles (4.7 km) northeast of North Philadelphia station. It lies near the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Butler Street, to the west of the interchange between Interstate 95 and the approach to the Betsy Ross Bridge. It has been used for rail transportation since 1832 but has not served as a station since October 4, 1992.

Class E6 on the Pennsylvania Railroad was the final type of 4-4-2 "Atlantic" locomotive built by the railroad, and second only to the Milwaukee Road's streamlined class A in size, speed and power. Although quickly ceding top-flight trains to the larger K4s Pacifics, the E6 remained a popular locomotive on lesser services and some lasted to the end of steam on the PRR. One, #460, called the Lindbergh Engine, is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It was moved indoors to begin preparations for restoration on March 17, 2010. On January 10, 2011, PRR #460 was moved to the museum's restoration shop for a two- to three-year project, estimated to cost $350,000. The engine is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Railroad 4876</span> Famous PRR GG1 electric locomotive

Pennsylvania Railroad 4876 was a GG1-class electric locomotive built in January 1939 at the PRR's Altoona Works in Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States. It is best known for being involved in an accident on January 15, 1953, when the locomotive overran a buffer stop, crashed into the concourse of Union Station in Washington, D.C., and fell partway into the basement after the train's brakes failed. Due to the major crowds expected for the upcoming inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 4876 was lowered the rest of the way into the basement and a temporary floor was erected overhead. After the inauguration, the locomotive's frame and superstructure was essentially scrapped on site, with all the reusable components shipped back to Altoona, Pennsylvania, to reconstruct a replacement 4876, which operated for another 30 years.

The Frankford Junction train wreck occurred on September 6, 1943, when Pennsylvania Railroad's premier train, the Congressional Limited, crashed at Frankford Junction in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States, killing 79 people and injuring 117 others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockport train wreck</span> 1925 railway accident

The Rockport train wreck occurred in Rockport in Mansfield Township, New Jersey, United States, about three miles outside of Hackettstown, on June 16, 1925. A violent storm washed debris onto a grade crossing, derailing a Lackawanna Railroad (DL&W) train. The crash killed 42 passengers and five crewmen and injured twenty-three others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck</span> Train wreck in Washington, D. C.

The 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck occurred on January 15, 1953, when a passenger and mail train from Boston to Washington DC failed to brake sufficiently on its approach to Union Station, Washington, jumping the platform and plunging through the floor of the concourse. There were no deaths, but 43 people were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Philadelphia train derailment</span> 2015 railroad accident in Pennsylvania, US

The 2015 Philadelphia train derailment of a New York City-bound Amtrak train in Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States resulted in multiple passenger injuries and deaths and disrupted Amtrak service for several days afterward due to the resulting investigation and removal of the wrecked train cars.

References

  1. ↑ "The Nation: Disaster at Woodbridge". The New York Times . February 11, 1951. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Margolin, Josh (January 25, 2001). "'I never saw anything like it... It was like a war scene'". The Star-Ledger . Archived from the original on July 25, 2008 – via Woodbridge Fire Department.
  3. ↑ Mittner, Gary (ed.). "Locomotive image K4 #2445". Angelfire.com. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ Hayslett, Chandra M. (February 5, 2001). "1951 train wreck recalled in tears". Home News Tribune . Archived from the original on July 25, 2008 – via Woodbridge Fire Department.
  5. ↑ "Crowded Commuter Cars Plunge Off Rails at Temporary Road Overpass in Woodbridge". The New York Times. February 7, 1951. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Great Woodbridge Train Wreck of 1951". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Fulton Street Train Wreck". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  8. ↑ Vonnegut, Kurt (1978). Slapstick : or, Lonesome no more! : a novel. New York: Dell Pub. Co. ISBN   0-440-18009-0. OCLC   4911039.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.