User:414foamer/Burlington Road train wreck

Burlington Road train wreck
North Shore Line 749, a 1928 Pullman coach of the same series as the lead car in the collision.
Details
Date	February 23, 1930 (1930-02-23) 10:45 pm CST
Location	Kenosha, Wisconsin
Coordinates	42.6026°N 87.8423°W / 42.6026; -87.8423
Country	United States
Line	Milwaukee Division
Operator	Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad
Incident type	Collision
Cause	Motorist disregarded grade crossing signal
Statistics
Trains	2
Vehicles	1
Deaths	14
Injured	130+

The Burlington Road train wreck occurred near Kenosha, Wisconsin on the night of February 23, 1930, when a passenger train of the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (the "North Shore Line") collided with an automobile at a highway grade crossing. The initial collision derailed the passenger train, causing it to sideswipe a freight train on the opposite track before ultimately crashing into a trackside ditch, killing 14 people and injuring over 130. The wreck was the deadliest incident in the history of the railroad.

Background

The Milwaukee Division of the North Shore Line operated through Kenosha from 1905 to 1963. The Kenosha station was located southwest of the intersection of 27th Avenue and 63rd Street. North of Roosevelt Road, the double-tracked rail line paralleled 28th Avenue and, at the time of the incident, crossed Burlington Road at grade. The crossing was protected by wigwag signals.

The passenger train involved in the wreck was Number 436, a limited express operating southbound from Milwaukee to Chicago, Illinois. On that night, No. 436 consisted of interurban coach cars 745, 726, 730, 720 and combine car 250. The motorman was Bill Hall. The freight train, extra No. 456, consisted of steeplecab locomotive 456, six hopper cars, two tank cars, five boxcars and a caboose. The motorman was Harry Norris.

Collision

No. 436 departed southbound from the Racine station at 10:36pm, approximately one minute late, and was scheduled to arrive in Kenosha at 10:46pm. It was estimated by the crew to have been traveling at a maximum of 60 miles per hour before the collision. To the south, No. 456 passed the interlocking tower near 60th street in Kenosha at 10:40pm, traveling northbound at approximately 35 miles per hour.

As the two trains converged upon Burlington Road, the crossing signals were activated, and a westbound Ford sedan came to a stop approximately 30 feet from the tracks. Aboard No. 456, motorman Norris then observed a Buick touring car approach from the east and speed around the Ford. He applied the emergency brake as he realized that the motorist was attempting to beat the freight train through the crossing. Aboard No. 436, motorman Hall later recalled that he had neither seen the Buick nor had the chance to react accordingly, though other crew members testified that they had felt the emergency brake applied before the impact.

While No. 456 slowed in time to avoid a collision, No. 436 struck and demolished the Buick. The engine block of the wrecked automobile derailed the lead car, 745, causing it to veer left and sideswipe several cars on the northbound freight. It then careened to the right, off of the embankment and into a ditch along the southbound track. Hall was ejected from the cab of 745 as it spun around into the ditch, and the trailing cars jackknifed behind it. The wreck of No. 436 ultimately came to a rest 546 feet south of the crossing, having destroyed 273 feet of the southbound track and downed a number of line poles. No. 456 had remained on the rails during the initial collision, but seven of its cars were subsequently derailed by debris from the destroyed southbound track.

Aftermath

The Kenosha County Scout Leaders Rescue Squad, a volunteer EMT organization serving Kenosha and Racine Counties, was founded in response to the Burlington Road train wreck by one of the volunteers who had administered first aid at the scene.