Train - Accident - The old switcheroo 1909
by Mike Savad
Title
Train - Accident - The old switcheroo 1909
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Colorized Photo
Description
Colorized photo from 1909 Nov 6
Original Title: Wrecked Pennsylvania RR Car on tracks
Location: Brunswick Ave & Columbus Ave, Jersey City, NJ
A train accident occurred and no one knew if it was an accident of the track or operator error.
Two trains riding parallel to each other, moving at about 30mph, merged onto the same track at the same time.
The Philadelphia train was just arriving (the one with the train cars), and on the other track, a train was backing in to pick up passengers going to long branch.
The track connected at one point, and the switch for whatever reason connected to the track where the train was backing in. The result created a sound that the whole area could hear. Cars were knocked on their sides, people were injured, 4 were killed. Two were related to running the train, at least one was just in the area maintaining the tracks.
The smoking car was the worst off as it was knocked on its side, and everyone inside rolled around in there, but no one was badly injured. One mail clerk in a train, had 3 broken ribs, and despite being in terrible pain, stayed there until relieved. That car carried a million dollars, and it had to be guarded.
The cars in the rear held all the women, many of which were fighting each other to get out. They were some 40ft off the ground, and some wanted to jump off the bridge to get out, and it was reported that a few did. But there were no reports of people with that kind of injury so it may never have happened.
Meanwhile, because this was between tenement buildings, people emptied out to see what was going on. Others collected coal so they could burn it in their own stoves. By the time police got there, they described the scene as 10,000 people were there all in the way. And it was hard to get to the victims. Debris was everywhere.
All said, 4 were dead, at least 2 had skull fractures they said they may have died, and many more were injured. The newspaper article, described each person by name, where they lived and what injury they have (because I assume privacy wasn't a thing in those days.). The engine was totally destroyed as well.
And if that wasn't bad enough, trains were delayed by many hours as they cleaned up the tracks. And the port authority of the area was packed.
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December 31st, 2018
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