Washington Train-Smash Aka U.S. Train Wreck (1953)HEADLINE!Runaway Train Crashes Through Union Station LobbyWhat happened next is best described in the coverage by the Washington Post.
For hair-raising seconds yesterday a runaway railroad train attempted to test the old physics class poser of the irresistible object.
The brakeless Pennsylvania Railroad engine and 16 cars and coaches didn’t prove themselves an irresistible force but they turned the immovable Union Station concourse into a shambles.
The powerful electric locomotive heading the procession weight 447,000 pounds, or 228 tons, according to railroad officials The cars behind it weighed at least 1000 tons.
The tearing power of this juggernaut brushed aside the track-end safety bumper, a sturdy device of steel I-beams. It tossed aside the iron grille track gate, hurling pieces throughout the concourse ceiling, smashed a newsstand, and destroyed part of the stationmaster’s office.
The ponderous engine furrowed across the cement concourse floor supported from below by steel columns. Part of the way across the concourse the floor gave way and the locomotive and two stainless steel coaches plunged to the floor below.
As was the custom of the time, doctors and nurses were rushed to the scene as well as every available ambulance. Incredibly, there were no fatalities but 87 people were injured.
Station officials had a huge problem on their hands. There was a gaping hole in their concourse, a train was sticking out of the hole, and the inauguration was just days away. Tens of thousands of visitors would be descending on the station shortly. The creative and improvised solution was nothing short of remarkable.
The two coaches were dragged out of the hole and the locomotive was lowered into the basement. A temporary wooden floor was erected over the hole and by the next day passengers were walking over the planking. After the inauguration the locomotive was extracted from the basement of the station.
Engineer Brower, no worse for wear, was back at work in a few days piloting the same train from Washington to Boston.
Eventually the Interstate Commerce Commission determined that a device that was supposed to supply air to the brake line was defective and thus caused the train to lose its brakes. The engineer was held faultless.
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@2cv:Op maandag 28 juni 2010 17:17 schreef Paladijn het volgende:Met de hoeveelheid onzin die je verkondigd is het geen wonder dat je geen PTA-mod meer bent
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De wetenschap is er nog steeds niet uit, waarom de meest gestroomlijnde vrouwen, de meeste weerstand bieden