An accident occurred on the four-track mainline of the New York Central Railroad at 10:02 P.M. on March 27, 1953, east of Conneaut, Ohio. It began when an improperly secured load of pipe broke loose from a gondola car on an eastbound freight train, damaging the westbound passenger track. A passing westbound freight crew notified the first train and stopped to assess what had happened, but a fast westbound passenger train could not stop and was derailed by the damaged track, colliding with the adjacent westbound freight. Finally, an eastbound fast passenger train struck the derailed equipment from the first two trains. There were 21 deaths and 49 people were injured.
Site.
The accident occurred on the mainline of the Erie Division at a point east of Conneaut and from the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. This was on the famous "Water Level Route," a four-track mainline where fast passenger trains from the Midwest ran on an almost gradeless route to New York. The main tracks here, from south to north, were designated as No. 4, eastward freight; No. 2, eastward passenger; No. 1, westward passenger; and No. 3, westward freight. It was raining at the time of the accident. The distance between the center-lines of adjacent tracks was .
Rescue effort.
The accident site was isolated from any main road. Only a muddy dirt lane led from the crash site to a major road south, and it soon became blocked by vehicles mired in the mud. The injured were either carried on stretchers or moved by hand car to the nearest road. Some waited up to four hours for help. About 100 persons were treated on the scene and 62 were transported to hospitals.
Investigation.
The Interstate Commerce Commission investigated the accident. Their findings indicated that the lading of Baltimore and Ohio car 254645 on Train Extra 1871 East was not properly secured for movement when loaded because the high tension bands were not properly sealed. Because the load was not properly secured, nine sections of pipe fell from the car while in transit. When the pipes fell from the car in question, one piece wedged between the track structure of track No. 1 and the next car, a boxcar. As the train proceeded at a speed of , the resultant thrust transmitted by the pipe to track No. 1 moved track No. 1 northward a distance of about before the pipe fell clear of the cars. The damaged condition of the track was not observed before passenger train No. 5 arrived at the point of the accident. The track was sufficiently damaged to cause the derailment of train No. 5 which in turn caused the derailment of Extra 1736 West. Passenger train No. 12 struck the derailed equipment of passenger train No. 5 before protection could be provided.
References.
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