Trains Collide in Erie

On a Thursday morning, on the 5th of October 1950, a speeding New York Central streamliner wrecked in a terrific explosion and fire, but its 153 dozing passengers miraculously escaped death. More than 40 persons were injured, none seriously.

The New England States Express, cruising through Erie at more than a mile a minute, sliced into an oil tank car that popped out of a passing freight train. The tanker erupted in a blast that shook downtown Erie.

Huge flames licked around the Express stainless steel coaches as 11 of them zig-zagged to a grinding halt crosswise on the tracks. Only one car — a dormitory for dining car employees — caught fire. One coach carrying 50 passengers turned over on its side. The 75-car freight piled up on a parallel track. A disaster call went out.

Within minutes some 20 doctors, 50 firemen and a like number of policemen were at the scene. Together with hundreds of passersby and railroad employees the rescue crews worked feverishly to free passengers from flame-seared cars under the ominous threat of spreading fire or new explosions. The fast-working rescuers slithered in pools of thick oil from the smashed tanker and the battered diesel of the passenger.

Another tank car wrecked in the freight was loaded with powdered chemical which Erie’s Fire Chief Lawrence Scully was unable to identify. Scully's men battled the scattered blazes and prowled in the wreckage to prevent spread of the fire. Said the fire chief: "It was one of the most unusual fires in my experience. And it was a God's blessing that those people escaped." Crewmen of the two trains said they were unable to prevent the crash.

The scene at the wreckage.

The scene at the wreckage.

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