1856 — July 17, Trains Collide, N. PA Railroad, Camp Hill/Ft. Washington, PA –66-67

 

59->79  Wikipedia. “Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.”[1]

–59-67  Wikipedia.  “Great Train Wreck of 1856.”

—     66  Adams, Charles Francis, Jr.  Notes on Railroad Accidents. 1879, p. 62.

—     66  MA Board…RR Commissioners. “Accidents…” Third An. Rpt., Is. 9, Pt. 2, 1872, cxxiii.

—     66  Railroad Stories.  “July in Railroad History,” July 1935, p. 30.

—     66  Reed, R.C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. 1968, 24.

—     66  Willsey, Lewis. “Memorable Railroad Accidents,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 673.

—     60  Childs 1886, 151.

—     60  National Railway Historical Society. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859. 2006, 13.

—     60  Sanger. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for…1856. p. 373.

—   ~50  Illinois State Chronicle.  “Appalling Disaster on the North Penn. R.R.,” July 24, 1856.

—   >50  Willsey and Lewis. “Philadelphia,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 627.

—     39  Haine. Railroad Accidents. 1993, 31.

 

Narrative Information

Adams: “…the accident at Camphill station, about twelve miles from Philadelphia, on July 17, 1856… befell an excursion train carrying some eleven hundred children, who had gone out on a Sunday-school picnic in charge of their teachers and friends.

“It was the usual story. The road had but a single track, and the train, both long and heavy, had been delayed and was running behind its schedule time. The conductor thought, however, that the next station could yet be reached in time to meet and there pass a regular train coming towards him. It may have been a miscalculation of seconds, it may have been a difference of watches, or perhaps the regular train was slightly before its time; but, however it happened, as the excursion train, while running at speed, was rounding a reverse curve, it came full upon the regular train, which had just left the sta­tion.

“In those days, as compared with the present [1879], the cars were but egg-shells, and the shock was ter­rific.  The locomotives struck each other, and, after rearing themselves up for an instant, it is said, like living animals, fell to the ground mere masses of rubbish.  In any case the force of the shock was sufficient to hurl both engines from the track and lay them side by side at right angles to, and some dis­tance from it. As only the excursion train happened to be running at speed, it alone had all the impetus necessary for telescoping; three of its cars accord­ingly closed in upon each other, and the children in them were crushed…two succeeding cars were driven upon this mass, and then fire was set to the whole from the ruins of the locomotives.  It would be hard to imagine anything more thoroughly heart-rending, for the holocaust was of little children on a party of pleasure. Five cars in all were burned, and sixty-six persons perished ; the injured numbered more than a hundred.

“Of this disaster nothing could be said either in excuse or in extenuation; it was not only one of  the worst description, but it was one of that description the occurrence of which is most frequent An excursion train, while running against time on a       single-track road, came in collision with a regular     train. The record is full of similar disasters, too numerous to admit of specific reference. Primarily of course, the conductors of the special trains are as a rule in fault in such cases. He certainly was at Camphill, and felt himself to be so, for the next day he committed suicide by swallowing arsenic. But in reality in these and in all similar cases,—both those which have happened and those hereafter surely destined to happen,—the full responsibility does not rest upon the unfortunate or careless subordinate; — nor should the weight of punishment be visited upon him. It belongs elsewhere.

“At this late day no board of directors, nor president, nor superintendent has any right to operate a single track road without the systematic use of the tele­graph in connection with its train movements. That the telegraph can be used to block, as it is termed, double-track roads, by dividing them into sections upon no one of which two trains can be running at the same time, is matter of long and daily experience. There is nothing new or experi­mental about it. It is a system which has been forced on the more crowded lines of the world as an alternative to perennial killings. That in the year 1879 excursion trains should rush along single-track roads and hurl themselves against regular trains, just as was done twenty-three years ago at Camphill, would be deemed incredible were not exactly simi­lar accidents still from time to time reported. One occurred near St. Louis, for instance, on July 4, 1879.  The simple fact is that to now operate single-track roads without the constant aid of the tele­graph, as a means of blocking them for every irreg­ular train, indicates a degree of wanton careless­ness, or an excess of incompetence, for which ade­quate provision should be made in the criminal law.  Nothing but this appeal to the whipping-post, as it were, seems to produce the needed mental activity; for it is difficult to realize the stupid conservatism of ordinary men when brought to the consideration of something to which they are not accustomed.

“On this very point of control­ling the train movement of single-track roads by telegraph, for instance, within a very recent period the superintendent of a leading Massachusetts road gravely assured the railroad commissioners of that state, that he considered it a most dangerous reli­ance which had occasioned many disasters, and that he had no doubt it would be speedily abandoned as a practice in favor of the old time-table and running-rules system, from which no deviations would be allowed. This opinion was expressed, also, after the Revere disaster of 1871, it might have been supposed, had branded into the record of the state the impossibility of safely running any crowded railroad in a reliance upon the schedule. Such men as this, however, are not accessible to argument or the teachings of experience, and the gentle stimulant of a criminal prosecution seems to be the only thing left.” (Adams 1879, 61-65)

Childs: “An excursion-train, filled with the scholars and teachers of St. Michael s Church, left Philadelphia by the North Pennsylvania Railroad on the 16th, and came in collision with a regular down train, both running at great speed. Five cars of the excursion train were shivered into fragments, and were set on fire from the engines. Many of those who were imprisoned by the wreck were burned to death, and still a larger number were killed out right or dreadfully wounded by the collision. The total loss of life was not less than sixty.”  (Childs 1886, 151)

Haine: “On 17 July 1856 , near Philadelphia…there occurred a head-on collision between two trains… the most serious railroad disaster in U.S. history…especially tragic in that it involved a large number of children on a holiday outing.  Plans of the St. Michaels’ Roman Catholic Church of Kensington called for a picnic to Fort Washington,[2] located about thirty-four miles north northwest of Philadelphia.  Approximately eleven hundred young people and their teachers and some parents were scheduled to take the trip in two separate special excursion trains.  The first section in ten cars of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, carrying about six hundred youngsters, left Philadelphia Master Street depot at 5:00 A.M.; problems in assembling and loading all these passengers resulted in a thirty-minute delay before the section pulled out of the station.

“…at 6:00 A.M., a regular passenger train destined for Philadelphia, departed Gwynedd, located about three miles northeast of Fort Washington.  The latter train arrived at the Camp Hill[3] siding at 6:18…where it was scheduled to wait for the passing of the excursion train.  For some reason, after about forty minutes, the conductor, William Van Slavren, decided not to tarry any longer and ordered his train toward Philadelphia on the single track system.  Almost immediately the northbound excursion train thundered around a curve at thirty-five miles per hour and at 7:00 A.M. crashed head-on into the passenger local.  Both locomotives rose in the air until their fire boxes almost touched together and then fell on the right-of-way, scattering hot coals far and wide.  The three forward wooden cars of the excursion special were splintered into match wood.  Adding to the catastrophe was a conflagration among the shattered coaches, ignited by live coals from the broken fireboxes, which finally consumed a total of five cars….

“…the Congress Engine and Hose Company of Chestnut Hill and the Chestnut Hill Fire Company hastened to the site and put out the fires thereby assisting in saving lives and speeding recovery of the injured…. Large masses of burned bodies…virtually unrecognizable humans were collected in a blacksmith shop near where the accident took place.  In the final count there were thirty-nine dead; twenty-seven bodies were never definitely identified, and sixty-nine people were injured.  William Lee, engineer of the down train, was arrested and committed for examination.  Shortly after the disaster William Van Slavren, conductor of the down train, committed suicide by taking arsenic.”  (Haine 1993, 35-36)

National Railway Historical Society, Inc.: “July 17, 1856 An excursion train of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, carrying Philadelphia school children to a country outing, collides head-on with a regular train at Camp Hill*, Pennsylvania. At least sixty passengers die, all of them passengers on the special train, which catches fire upon impact. *No longer called Camp Hill, the wreck site is located between the stations of Oreland and Fort Washington on SEPTA’s R5 line.”  (National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859.  2006, p. 13)

“Circa 1856 New York state legislature enacts a Codification of Rules and Regulations for Running Trains on the Railroads of the State of New York. The list of more than 250 rules comes at a time when railroad accidents in the US are increasing in number and severity.”

(National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859.  2006, p. 12)

Railroad Stories: July 17, 1856. “Head-on collision on North Penna. R.R. (now part of the Reading) Fellwick (Ambler) Pa.; 66 killed, about 100 injured – at that time the worst railroad casualty list ever recorded!”   (Railroad Stories.  “July in Railroad History,” July 1935, p. 30.)

Newspaper

July 24: “The conductor of the express train did not wait at a certain point to allow the excursion train to pass—the road being a new one, and but a single track, but concluding that there was no train to pass, dashed…full speed and ran into the pleasure train.  The concussion was like the closing of a telescope, each train running into the other, and being fully interlocked.  The pleasure train was composed of ten cars, which left the Master street station at 5 o’clock in the morning.” (Illinois State Chronicle. “Appalling Disaster on the North Penn. R.R.,” 7-24-1856.)

Sources

Adams, Charles J. III and David J. Seibold. Great Train Wrecks of Eastern Pennsylvania.  Reading, PA:  Exeter House Books, 1992.

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Haine, Edgar A. Railroad Wrecks. New York: Cornwall Books, 1993.

Illinois State Chronicle, Decatur. “Appalling Disaster on the North Penn. R.R.,” 7-24-1856. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=1507822&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=8

Lewis, Charlton Thomas and Joseph H. Willsey (Eds.). Harper’s Book of Facts. New York:  Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895, 954 pp.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 9-4-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ

Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners. Third Annual Report, Issue. 9, Part 2, Jan 1872.  Boston: Wright & Potter, State Printers.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=VVIaAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Railroad Historical Almanac 1840-1859. NRHS, 2006, 17 pages. Accessed at: http://www.nrhs.com/almanac/rr-almanac-1840-1859.pdf

Railroad Stories. “July in Railroad History,” July 1935, pp. 27-31.

Reed, Robert C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. New York: Bonanza Books, 1968.

Sanger, George P. (Ed.). American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1857 (Part II). Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company, 1855. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=rnUFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=related:LCCN05001604#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Wikipedia. “Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.” 8-28-2017 edit. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Washington,_Pennsylvania

Wikipedia. “Great Train Wreck of 1856.” 5-28-2017 edit accessed 9-4-2017 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Wreck_of_1856

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World.  New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

 

[1] “The exact number of deaths is uncertain, but 59 were killed instantly and dozens more perished from their injuries.” For the sake of our tally we convert “dozens” to 24. However, since other sources we have seen do not support such a high number, we do not use as the high-end of our estimated fatality range.

[2] Shaeff’s Woods Park.  (Wikipedia, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania)

[3] Sandy Run station (later renamed to Camp Hill, then the Felwick Station – now defunct.  (Wikipedia, Ft. Wash.)