There's still one accident survivor still alive.
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?new ... 7825&rfi=8
According to news reports from the day, the trains collided head on at about 60 mph. Because the site of the crash was a "cut" in a hillside through which only a single track lay, and the fact that it was on a curve, the "enginemen" didn't see each other until impact.
The crash reportedly could be heard for miles. The "cut" in the hillside left nowhere for the trains to go. According to reports, the force of the collision was so great that the engines were stood straight up, then fell back together onto the first car of the northbound train No. 151.
Several of the cars were wooden with gas heaters. Add to that the hot coals from the steam engines, and the ensuing conflagration was fatal to many.
According to the Dec. 10, 1921, issue of the Public Spirit, Charles H. Ewing, vice president of the Reading Railroad, issued a statement, that read in part: "We are wholly at a loss to account for this gross violation of the order and rules, except that it was an unexplainable failure of the human agency."
According to the report, copies of an order were given to enginemen and conductors of both trains instructing northbound train No. 151 to take the "siding" track at Bryn Athyn and wait for southbound train No. 156 to pass. Train No. 151 apparently left Bryn Athyn in violation of the order at 7:46 a.m. The crash occurred eight minutes later, at 7:54 a.m.
"Mr. Ewing's statement throws the blame squarely on Walter Yeakel, the engineman whose shoulder blade was fractured, and Charles L. Evans, the conductor," read the main story in the Public Spirit news story.
"Evans' ability to free himself from blame, according to railroad officials, depends upon his explanation of the manner in which he interpreted the dispatcher's order flashed from the Reading terminal."
Evans was described in the newspaper account as "middle aged with a wife and family in Norristown, who has been in the Reading service a score of years, his record unblemished."
Yeakel was described as "an engineman of years' experience. He has run expresses and locals and is familiar every foot of the Newtown division roadbed and the run of trains on it."
According to a report in Bucks County Gazette in 1981 by Art Thompson, "The engineman and his conductor were tried, found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to prison. Both were pardoned later."[/url]
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?new ... 7825&rfi=8
According to news reports from the day, the trains collided head on at about 60 mph. Because the site of the crash was a "cut" in a hillside through which only a single track lay, and the fact that it was on a curve, the "enginemen" didn't see each other until impact.
The crash reportedly could be heard for miles. The "cut" in the hillside left nowhere for the trains to go. According to reports, the force of the collision was so great that the engines were stood straight up, then fell back together onto the first car of the northbound train No. 151.
Several of the cars were wooden with gas heaters. Add to that the hot coals from the steam engines, and the ensuing conflagration was fatal to many.
According to the Dec. 10, 1921, issue of the Public Spirit, Charles H. Ewing, vice president of the Reading Railroad, issued a statement, that read in part: "We are wholly at a loss to account for this gross violation of the order and rules, except that it was an unexplainable failure of the human agency."
According to the report, copies of an order were given to enginemen and conductors of both trains instructing northbound train No. 151 to take the "siding" track at Bryn Athyn and wait for southbound train No. 156 to pass. Train No. 151 apparently left Bryn Athyn in violation of the order at 7:46 a.m. The crash occurred eight minutes later, at 7:54 a.m.
"Mr. Ewing's statement throws the blame squarely on Walter Yeakel, the engineman whose shoulder blade was fractured, and Charles L. Evans, the conductor," read the main story in the Public Spirit news story.
"Evans' ability to free himself from blame, according to railroad officials, depends upon his explanation of the manner in which he interpreted the dispatcher's order flashed from the Reading terminal."
Evans was described in the newspaper account as "middle aged with a wife and family in Norristown, who has been in the Reading service a score of years, his record unblemished."
Yeakel was described as "an engineman of years' experience. He has run expresses and locals and is familiar every foot of the Newtown division roadbed and the run of trains on it."
According to a report in Bucks County Gazette in 1981 by Art Thompson, "The engineman and his conductor were tried, found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to prison. Both were pardoned later."[/url]
~Alex Charyna: SEPTA (and PATCO) Forum Moderator
“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous 16-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous 16-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
