January 15, 1953 – Washington, D.C., United States: Approaching Union Station, the brakes partially fail on the Pennsylvania Railroad Federal Express overnight train from Boston. Unable to stop, the 16 car train careened through the interlocking, barreled into sixteen track, a stub track, plowed through the bumper and smashed its way into the station, destroying the main newsstand and the stationmaster's office.
The massive 224 ton GG-1 electric locomotive pulling the train collapsed the concourse floor and fell into the basement. Amazingly, nobody was killed in the accident.
President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration was scheduled the following week, leaving insufficient time to extricate the locomotive. So the basement was planked over for the celebration week.
After the inaugural festivities had concluded, the unit was cut up into three pieces, hauled to Altoona, Pennsylvania where it had been built, reassembled and returned to revenue service for another three decades. GG-1 No. 4876 is in the collection of the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
The historic locomotive now sits outdoors, vandalized and rusting away. I really don't know what they ought to do with it. Perhaps Washington DC should be permanently planked over though.
Length: 79' 6"
Weight: 447,000 lb total
Adhesive Weight: 303,000 lb, 50,500 per axle
Boiler: 17.1 tons
Transformer: 15.3 tons
Source
11 comments:
hmm, I'm thinkingit would make a great restuarant.
I was thinking the same thing Granny. It would make a great restaurant if it isn't too far gone.
And Iggy, why waste the materials for planking Washington. Talk about too far gone...
We use to have a restuarant in caboose..but they outgrew it. But it would be interesting as a diner...like in the 50's.
Interesting story!
There use to be a train and carriages near Southborne that was used as a restuarant, it was beautiful.......
My grandfather died in a head on collision in the early 50s over here, he was a driver.... my father was bought up in the railway cottages at hilsea....
x
just need to add........... Iggy, you are such a joy...
x
It really is amazing that nobody was killed in that accident.
Is it train wreak or train wreck?
My life used to be considered a train wreck, or did everyone mean train wreak? Now I am unsure if my life was on a collision course or it really smelled.
Luv ya iggy. ;-)
With all the corruption in DC, it's a wonder it hasnt ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah.
.oO(yeah, I SO went there)
I fixed the typo. This has been a tough week. TGIF.
Sometimes it pays to be one of the last commenters...the typos get fixed already, lol.
Very interesting story about that train wreck, Iggy.
Maybe instead of planking over D.C., maybe we could just nuke it? As long as the fallout doesn't affect NY and VA.
Considering Im *only* 35 miles or so from D.C., I'd really much rather it wasnt nuked, thanks. At least wait until Im outta state first....
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