The Norwalk train accident occurred on May 6, 1853, at Norwalk, Connecticut, and was the first railroad catastrophe in the US; 48 were killed when a train traveling at 50 mph fell to Norwalk Harbor from the swing bridge.
The accident occurred in New York and New Haven Railroad where it crossed a small niche of Long Island Sound through a swing bridge. The approach from New York was around sharp turns, so there was a signal indicating whether the bridge could be crossed by a train: a red ball mounted on a tall pole.
At 8:00 that morning, Boston revealed leaving New York with 200 passengers driven by a replacement driver who was the third transit of the route. The train consists of two luggage and five passenger cars. As it approached the bridge, the driver neglected to check the signal and realized that the bridge was open when it was within 400 feet (120 m). The bridge has been opened for the Pacific steamship voyage , just passing through. The driver slammed on the brakes and flipped the machine, but could not stop on time. He and firefighters jumped clearly in front of the bridge and escaped serious injuries. The machine itself flies across a 60-foot (18 m) slit, attacking an opposite crossing about 8 feet (2.4 m) below the track and sinking into 12 feet (3.7 m) of water. The luggage cars stopped on the locomotive; the front of the first passenger car was destroyed by a trunk car and then submerged when the second passenger car stopped on it. The third passenger car broke in two; the front half hangs on the edge of the boundary; the back of which is left on the track. Most of the 48 people were killed and 30 were injured in the first passenger car. Eight others were reported missing.
Many doctors travel by train, returning from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association in New York; seven of them were killed. Among the unharmed were Dr. Gurdon Wadsworth Russell, who wrote the story of an accident to Hartford Courant where he says that the dead "presents all the asphyxia symptoms of drowning, and may sink at once, locked up and pressed by broken cars. , what a melancholy scene! "
As a result of the panic and public outcry caused by the accident, the Connecticut Legislature enacted a law that forced every train in the state to stop dead before crossing the opening bridge. The engineer was accused of negligence and responsibility for the disaster.
A similar accident occurred eleven years later in Canada with the loss of a larger life, the St-Hilaire train disaster.
Video Norwalk rail accident
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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