Anyone ever seen footage of the 1932 train collision? It took place at the Iowa State Fair. Being born, raised and still living in Iowa I have been to the Iowa State Fair many times. This train collision is part of our state fair history, legend and folklore.
Check out the footage:
Mythbusters would love to perform a stunt like that. I like. I love the way the guy in the foreground is running towards the crash, right up until it happens, then he runs the other way. Must have been quite a bang!
Thanks for sharing.
That is a copyright violation to film my layout without my permission. [(-D]
OK, excuuuuse me. So, I forgot to throw the switch. [banghead]
Now I know what happened to Gomez Addams.
–Randy
I agree, it would be fun to watch on Mythbusters, but I don’t know if their budget would allow it. Just the cost of finding RUNNING locomotives. I remember the lead-in for “The Fugitive” using model trains. It’s still fun to watch (it airs on MeTV)!!
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. I’m sure people of the 30’s thought nothing of smashing a couple of old locos that were going to be scrapped anyway. I look at it today and think “How could they do that!!!” Such is the passage of time.
But the other question - what was in the front of that passenger car on the left side (the “Roosevelt”)? Right after the car hits the tender there’s a flash fire, almost an explosion. Maybe there was some 1930’s vintage pyrotechnics? A pail of gasoline that tipped into a tray of burning coal, perhaps?
George V.
This is a prototype train crash, so I’ll be moving this thread over to the Trains.com Forums.
“Roosevelt” does not have Eleanor as a first name on one of coaches.
another view of the same crash:
Such staged collisions were not uncommon at the time, if I remember my past reading correctly.
Unfortunately, not all turned out well, as spectators (notice how close the grandstand is to the point of impact) were occasionally hurt, or even killed by flying debris.
Iowa train wreck fifty years later, the Rock Island Lines and the Milwaukee Road.
Noticed the engine for the Roosevelt seemed to have a painted over insignia for the Milwaukee Road on it’s tender.
There is a book available called “The man who wrecked 146 locomotives, The story of Head On Joe Connolly.” He staged 73 head on collisions for events like fairs during his career. I think the 1932 Iowa State Fair was one of his last ones, although he wasn’t the only person staging such events.
http://www.southplattepress.com/current/manwhowrecked.html
Gives a brief review of the man and the book.
Jeff
Gives a brief
Thank You.
Dollars to donuts that was Pintsch Gas used to light the lamps in a car that old. I bet someone forgot to drain any remaining gas from the system. It looked like the piping broke under the floor behind the vestibule and the fire spread backward along the line.
Bruce
EDIT: After reviewing the video again I do not see any underfloor appliances or tanks, so it may have only been reside line pack in the piping.
I was watching a review of past Iowa state fairs and saw pictures of the 1932 crash. One of the tenders had a buffer and chain style couple on the back. Anyone know of any info on why it had that?
IIRC, it was common to paint the names of (usually Presidential) candidates on each locomotive. Coaches (wood) were soaked in oil and a small fire built in a brazier to upset and ignite the wreckage upon impact.