1937 – Oct 22, school bus hit by Rock Island Line Rocket, crossing near Mason City, IA–10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 11-14-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  UP. “Rock Island’s ‘Rocket’ Cuts School Bus in Two in Crash near Mason City. 10-23-1937, 1.

–10  Wikipedia.  “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” 

Narrative University

Wikipedia: “October 22, 1937 – Mason City, Iowa: The Rock Island Line Rocket streamliner strikes a school bus at grade just outside a brick and tile factory after a class tour. 10 killed, 19 injured. Sight lines were obstructed by tile pallets stacked near the crossing.”  (Wikipedia.  “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”)

Newspaper

Oct 22, UP: “Mason City, Iowa, (UP), – A pile of bricks at the roadside, and deafening screams of two dozen students, were studied today as possible causes of a train and bus collision in which seven high school students, two teachers, and the driver were killed and 19 persons hurt late yesterday. The bus was returning the students to Renwick, Iowa, after a day-long tour of Mason City industries. The Rock Island Rocket, streamlined passenger train bound from Kansas City to Minneapolis, struck the bus at a crossing. The bus burst, and bodies and wreckage were strewn for 700 meet along the right-of-way. The dead:

Lauren Morton, 25, teacher.

Miss Dorothy Ross, 24, teacher.

Patsy Turner, 16, student.

Donald Amosson, 15, student.

Norman A. Eggerth, 15 student.

Lowell Kelling, 15, student.

Albert Siemans, 16, student.

James Bell, 15, student.

Lillian Cedar, 15, student

Rex Simpson, 28, driver of the bus.

“….George R. Simpson, Des Moines, engineer of the train, continued as far as Manly, the next division point where he regularly is replaced by a new crew. He was badly shaken by his experience and said the train was traveling only about 25 miles an hour when it struck the bus.

“….Vern Mott, Mason City coal dealer who was driving about 100 feet behind the bus when the crash occurred, gave the following account: ‘I heard the Rocket whistle. Then I saw the train coming at about 20 or 30 miles an hour. I was terribly surprised when the bus continued to the crossing and didn’t slow up. When the bus and train reached the crossing at the same time the Rocket hit the bus squarely in the center and the bus popped as though it were a watermelon being dropped….”

Sources

United Press. “Rock Island’s ‘Rocket’ Cuts School Bus in Two in Crash near Mason City. 10-23-1937, 1. The Evening Democrat, Fort Madison, IA. 10-23-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-14-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-madison-evening-democrat-oct-23-1937-p-1/

Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1950_rail_accidents