The train would travel 220 miles between the two cities in only 3 and a half hours at an average speed of 70 mph. At times along the route, it would reach the unheard of speed of 80 mph.
To further decrease the travel time, the train made only one stop along the way, at Newark, NJ.
On Monday, Sept. 6th, 1943, at 4pm, 541 people climbed aboard the Limited, in Wash, DC, for the ride to New York City. Many of the riders were soldiers home on leave for the holiday. (World War II was still in full fight).
The first part of the journey went by uneventfully. The 140 miles from Wash., DC, to Phila, Pa, took only 2 hours to cover. It seemed the train would arrive early to Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
But unknown to any of the passengers or crew, a disaster was already in the making and it was about to take the lives of many of the innocent travelers.
A "journal box" on Car #7 was overheating.
A railroad car rides on two "trucks", or sets of wheels. The trucks consist of pairs of wheels on axles and the axles run in bearings or housings called "journal boxes".
But the problem was about to reveal itself.
But the call came just seconds too late. The front of the train was bearing down on the signal. Boyer meant to call the next signal tower along the line, but before he could move, he saw that it was too late.
He could only watch helplessly as the disaster began to unfold, directly beneath his feet.
At 45 mph, the front axle of Car #7 snapped in two. The broken axle fell and caught under the front truck of the car catapulting the front end of car #7 skyward. The car rose to an almost vertical position before it fell back to earth.
Then, rolling over and over, Car #7, with over 50 passengers aboard, hit the upright of the signal tower, lengthwise. The impact peeled the roof off the car along the line of windows "like opening a can of sardines".
Car #8 also rolled over and over until it plowed into Car #7 and hit the signal tower standard so hard that it wound up wrapped round the tower standard in "roughly a U-shape". The next 6 cars derailed and were tossed at odd angles along the right-of-way's 8 tracks.
When it was over, the first six cars and the last two cars of the 16-car train were undamaged. But Cars #7 and #8 were demolished and six other cars were strewn about the wreckage.
The scene was one of death and destruction. Passengers had been thrown from the windows of the two cars as they rolled. Bodies of the dead were strewn about the wreckage. Dazed and injured survivors were stumbling about. Some were crying, some praying, some stunned into silence.
Exit doors on the cars were jammed shut from the destruction. Passengers were trapped inside, with no way out.
Downed high tension wires from the signal tower would only add to the difficulty of rescuing the passengers.
The servicemen who were aboard the train jumped into service. They tended to the injured, helped passengers escape the destroyed cars and helped to free the passengers who were entangled in the wreckage.
Soon, rescuers from area fire departments arrived. Ambulances lined up to tend to the injured. Even private vehicles were pressed into service to rush the injured to area hospitals.
Workers from the nearby Cramps Shipyard arrived with acetylene torches to cut through the steel confining those still trapped. Cars had to be cut open. The workers would continue into the morning hours to free the last of them.
Spotlights were set up to keep the area illuminated throughout the night. A loudspeaker system was setup to direct the rescuers.
All rail traffic was detoured.
And the work of rescuing survivors and clearing the wreckage would continue for the next 26 hours.
79 people died in the wreck and over the next few days. Another 117 were injured; some of them severely. All of the dead were in Cars #7 and #8.
The cause of the wreck was determined to be the overheated journal box. At first it was assumed the box was not lubricated as is required. However, railroad mechanics swore that the box was lubricated correctly during their inspection earlier that day.
All traffic was detoured for 16 hours when one of the tracks was finally opened. All of the tracks were not cleared until 26 hours after the accident.
It took rescuers 24 hours to remove the dead from the wreckage.
Many of the survivors attributed much of the rescue and keeping hysteria under control to the many servicemen who immediately took control.
On Thursday night, Philadelphia Mayor Samuels lauded the servicemen, the men from Cramps Shipyard, and the other rescuers for responding in the emergency.
Normal practice is that towermen are under orders to watch the wheels of passing trains for any problems. Also the crew is under orders to look back at the wheels whenever the train rounds a curve.
How this "hotbox" escaped notice was never understood.
Some reports state that the train was travelling at 70mph, others say 45mph.
Some reports state that Car #8 rolled over and over until it "came to rest against Car #7", and do not mention it hitting the signal tower or ending in a "U-shape".
Reports of the number of tracks on the right-of-way range from 4 to 10. I believe there are six tracks now.
This wreck happened in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. It's often listed as Frankford because it happened at the "Frankford Junction" where the tracks turn toward the Frankford section of Phila.
The tower where John Boyer was positioned is off Kensington Ave., between Glenwood and Sedgley.
The signal tower that was hit by the railcars is about 100 feet west of Castor Ave., between Glenwood and Sedgley.
The front of the train stopped just over Frankford Ave between Glenwood and Sedgley.
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| Axle with End Intact | Axle with End Sheared Off (Cause of the Wreck) |
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| Sheared off Axle End ...... | ...... Cause of the Wreck |
Zelda Popkin
"The Journey Home"
Robert Nelson - Hero
There were MANY heroes that night
This is the story of ONE of them.