Does anyone have any infomation on a train wreck that happened in Union Station in Washington D.C. back in the 50’s? I think it happed in 56 and the name was " The Federal " .
January 15, 1953. GG-1 number 4876 pulling train 173, the Federal. 16 cars.
The ICC found that the angle **** on the trainline at the rear of the third car had become closed due to interference between the **** and parts of the buffer underframe.
The 4876 went through the buffers at the end of track (Union Station is dead end on most tracks) and on into the concourse… which wasn’t built for GG-1s… Rather a mess.
I’ve seen photos of this one, the concorse floor collapsed under the weight of the engine and cars leaving the suspended in midair from the remaining structural members. Luckily I believe they had cleared the station prior to the train hitting it and I dont think anyone on the train was killed. This accident was the source recreated for the movie “Silver Streak”
Thanks for the information. I knew there was a wreck there back in the 50’s, I’m tring to find some pictures.
The 4876 had a kink in its profile until the day it retired, sometime in the 1980’s.
Dave H.
I’d have a kink in my profile, if I’d done that, too![:D] You’ll notice that the 4876 ran on for another 30 plus years, though. Those GG-1s were some mighty fine motors![:)] (Except in very fine snow… does anyone else remember that fiasco?[:(])
it was a story in a winter month issue of trains magazine.I remember reading about it.
stay safe
Joe
Here’s a link with the whole story about the wreck and pictures:
I remember the Duffy Street wreck even though I would have been only about 7 when it happened. Today my dad and I, in San Bernardino, Ca. on a trainspotting outing, journeyed to the site. It’s a mostly quiet suburban neighborhood, but there is still a large vacant lot where the disaster occured, surrounded incongruously by ordinary homes. Since it happened 14 years ago, not much evidence is left, although there is a strange groove in the dirt at one point; perhaps dug by a flange? And the remnants of some driveways are still in place, lending a rather creepy air maintained by the suburban quiet. While standing by the track where it all happened, we were lucky enough to see a Union Pacific RDC pass by. It was a strangely official-looking vehicle; anybody have any idea as to what it might have been?
I’m sorry if I upset any members here from the San Bernardino area who remember that awful disaster and if I’m unearthing any painful memories, but that incident made a rather large impression on me too, and I was eager to investigate while I had the chance. To anyone who knows a lot about the Duffy Street disaster, here’s something else I’d like to know: are there any rumors of ghosts in the area? Ghosts are another pet interest of mine, and the area did seem like a rather eerie place.
Ive seen an interview with the fireman from the GG1 wreck in DC. From what I heard (FROM PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE) the locomotive had to be dismantled and rebuilt. that locomotive is rusted to its rails in the B&O Museum’s yard. In relation, I was told by an Amtrak Employee that Bombardier did not put any type of security on the Acela from the angle **** thing from closing, and we could see an Acela version of the wreck.
Well, I suppose it could…but then again GG1’s were built kinda study out metal and such, I tend to believe that the Acela might be it’s own crush zone.
AndyJay:
We were at Duffy Street. Our (ATSF) dispatcher heard the runaway, called us to find out where the derailment was to make sure it did not fall on us (It didn’t - ranks as one of the more unusual radio conversations that I ever had in my railroad career.). The wheels of the locomotives were bright cobalt blue from the braking heat prior to the derailment. Potash spilled everywhere! Most fearsome case of instant urban renewal that I ever saw…
Mudchicken
As far as the Federal Wreck, it was a couple of days prior to the innauguration, so they patched the floor over the wreck, leaving it in the basement until after the ceremony, then they removed the temp floor, and proceeded to cut the engine into pieces (9 chunks, I think) because they could get a crane large enough to lift the entire engine in close enough to where it was. They hauled the pieces back to Altoona, welded them back together, and it ran out the rest of its life. As for strength, the engine frame underneath the skin was basically a huge truss frame similar to a truss bridge. I do recall reading about the snow fiasco. An unusual snow storm that hit the upper east coast produced an especially fine snow. The flakes were small enough that they were sucked thru the japanese silk screens normally applied to keep snow out of the blower intakes. The snow got down into the traction motors, shorted out the windings, bringing the NEC to a grinding halt. To finally fix the problem, they changed or somehow altered the epoxy mix used to insulate the winding wires. To test it, they totally submerged a traction motor and ran it under water for an extended period of time with no adverse effects.
Tim
Saw a woman get nipped by a VIA LRC once…there was some trauma but she survived…hopefully she’ll always remember to look both ways when crossing the tracks. This stretch of track (CN’s Chatham Sub) is infamous for trespassers and the number of them killed by VIA trains, the trains operate at over 100 mph…I could be in Belle River and hear the train coming when its still in Tecumseh.
The New York City Transit had a subway accident not for from where I used to live, in Brooklyn. The first car of a four car Franklin Avenue shuttle train had jumped the rails and slammed into a wall that divided the two tunnels. That accident, in the 70’s, was the second such accident for that line and in the same manner. Even though the car was a ‘more’ steel type of stainless steel car, that wall tore the right side wall of the car away killing all who were on that side!
Glenn
June of 2002 a drunk driver smacked into the middle of a hot NS intermodel. He was only in a compact pickup, but he managed to derail a bunch of cars. They completly destroyed the grade crossing and it stripped the rails and many of the ties. Their was a house about 50 meters away from the tracks. It had containers and container cars flying by it at 60mph. I can’t even imagine the sound. What do you compare a train wreck to?
The tracks took about a week to get back in service, and this is a pretty busy mainline out of Atlanta, GA. Stopped Amtrak’s Southern Cresent as well. What is even crazer is that the driver walked away with hardly a scratch.
I’ve been in a few myself…got hit in the cab in a yard once, had a train derail in my front yard, a few switching accidents. I was never evacuated from my home when the train was in my yard, I saw a car get run over from my porch about 5 years ago, have hit 3 cars, worst wreck…the Amtrak one in Alabama in 1993…must have been hell when they went off that bridge into the mud.
About the wreck…woah!
i ve seen a few train wrecks in my day and i am alyays amazes at the twisted metal and the fource it took to bend it
I resided in Toronto whenthe CP derailment occurred that resulted in nearly 1/2 million people being evacuated in Mississauga for nearly a week. I lived in Weston and my office was in Oakville, this resulted in a twenty mile detour each way for me for that week. Railroads all over North American were forced to make changes after that derailment probably the most expensive in history.