1940 — July 31, Gasoline-Electric and Freight Trains Collide/Fire, Cuyahoga Falls, OH-43

— 43 AP. “43 Persons Meet Fiery Death In Crash…” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 8-1-1940, 1.
— 43 AP. “Doodlebug Engineer Freed From Hospital.” East Liverpool Review, OH. 8-30-1940, 11.
— 43 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p.
— 43 Daily Herald, Circleville, OH. “Blame For Rail Crash Put On Two Train Men.” 8-2-1940, p. 4.
— 43 Defiance Crescent-News, OH. “Conductor Says Orders Received to Go On Siding.” 8-6-1940, p.1.
— 43 Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. “Advance Fume Wreck Theory.” 8-23-1940, p. 1.
— 43 Haine, Edgar A. Railroad Wrecks. New York: Cornwall Books, 1993, p. 32.
— 43 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 140.
— 43 Salem News, OH. “Fire Claimed Most Lives In Accident.” 8-3-1940, p. 1.
— 43 Waymarking.com. “Doodlebug Train Disaster – Cuyahoga Falls, OH.” 11-4-2007.
— 43 Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”
— 41 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, pp. 140 and 740.
— 41 Shaw, Robert B. Down Brakes: A History of Railway Accidents… 1961, pp. 171 and 483.

Narrative Information

Waymarking.com: “July 31, 1940 6:00PM at Front Street and Hudson Drive. Gasoline-Electrical shuttle train met head on with a freight train and in one instant 350 gallons of fuel exploded all over everything. 43 lives lost and many more were affected forever.” (Waymarking.com. Doodlebug Train Disaster – Cuyahoga Falls, OH)

Wikipedia: “July 31, 1940 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States: The PRR “Doodlebug”, a gasoline-electric interurban car, fails to take a siding and collides with an oncoming freight, causing the gas tanks to explode. The crew jump before the crash; all 43 passengers die as the wreck burns too intensely to allow rescuers near for half an hour. A federal investigation suggests the Doodlebug’s driver had become disoriented due to carbon monoxide in a poorly ventilated cab.” (Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”)

Newspapers

Aug 1: “Akron, O., Aug. 1. (AP) – Railroad investigators today blamed an engineman’s failure to follow operating orders for the fiery death of 43 persons in 1940’s second major train wreck. They said failure to sidetrack a gasoline-electric coach led it to crash headon with a 73-car freight train near here last night.

“The steel coach instantly became a virtual furnace. Two members of the coach’s crew and a trainman deadheading leaped to safety. All the others aboard were burned to death. Five children were among the victims.

“The coach’s single engineman, Thomas L. Murtough, 49, was blamed by L. M. Wolcott, Cleveland trainmaster for the Pennsylvania railroad, on whose single-track Hudson-Akron line the crash occurred. Murtough, seriously injured, was unable to tell his story.

Tells of Orders

“Wolcott, watching crews clear away the wreckage, declared: ‘The crew of the ‘doodlebug’ (the gasoline coach) and the crews of the freight train had orders to meet at Silver lake, one mile north of the scene, and wait for the freight to pass. Murtough should have taken his train onto the siding there. For some reason he did not go into the siding.’

“J. F. Allenspaugh, Akron yardmaster, said his investigation also showed the ‘doodlebug’s’ crew was at fault.

“After a preliminary study, E. W. Smith, vice president of the railroad, expressed a similar view and said the coach’s crew also disregarded a ‘rigid’ rule in failing to obtain permission from the block operator at Hudson before continuing on the main track. In a statement at Pittsburgh he added: ‘With Engineman Murtough and Conductor (Harry) Shafer of the motor car badly injured in Akron hospitals, and with Baggagemaster (Charles) Bilderback dead, it is impossible to determine now why these orders were disobeyed.’

“The freight train, northbound from Columbus, telescoped the fore-end of the 122,000-pound coach and shoved it back 200 yards. Flames spurted from the windows as its 250-gallon gasoline tanks exploded. Firemen poured waster into the coach. Then they and volunteers went about the sickening two-hour task of removing bodies, many so burned that identification was difficult.

No Chance to Escape

“Coroner R. E. Amos, seeking to clear up the identifications, said the passengers ‘didn’t have a chance in the world’ to escape.

“Eyewitnesses related that flames enveloped the coach so fast that none of the passengers could escape. One man standing nearby said he heard no screams.

“Officials estimated eight of the dead were railroad employes ‘dead-heading’ home after concluding their runs. Most of the passenger victims were residents of the Akron district, although the coach which shuttled the 12 miles from Hudson to Akron, had picked up passengers at Hudson from the Pennsylvania’s Cleveland-Pittsburgh line.

“Two enginemen on the freight train, which had two locomotives, were burned slightly as they fled the flames after braking to a stop.

“Engineer O. M. Lodge of Columbus, on the lead locomotive, said: ‘I had the signal to go ahead at Akron station. I was going straight through when I saw the doodlebug coming around the bend. I blew my whistle and tried to slow down. It was no use. When the crash came, burning gasoline was thrown up into my cab. It burned my face. I jumped back and went over the coal car to escape the flames.’” (Associated Press. “43 Persons Meet Fiery Death In Crash Near Akron.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 8-1-1940, p. 1.)

Aug 2: “Akron, August 2 – Two of the three survivors of the tragic head-on crash between a Pennsylvania Railroad gasoline-electric passenger coach and a freight train at nearby Cuyahoga Falls Wednesday night were blamed today for the accident that cost 43 lives. They were Engineer Thomas L. Murtaugh of Orrville and Conductor Harry B. Shafer of Akron, both lying seriously injured in hospitals.

“Railroad officials and Coroner R. E. Amos asserted that inquiries they conducted bore out earlier beliefs that Murtaugh and Shafer disobeyed written orders to bring the car to a stop at Silver Lake siding, a short distance north of the crash scene, to wait for the northbound freight train. Neither member of the crew has been questioned yet because of his injuries.

“The coroner said that a written order directing that the coach be sidetracked to wait for the freight to pass, was found in Shafer’s pocket. A duplicate was given to Murtaugh, railroad officials said.

“Dr. Amos announced last night that final identification had been made of all the men, women and children who were crushed or burned to death when the head locomotive of the freight train split the car wide open and caused an explosion that made its interior a blazing inferno.

“The coroner’s report said that the 43 met their deaths accidentally because of the crew’s disregard of orders.” (Daily Herald, Circleville, OH. “Blame For Rail Crash Put On Two Train Men.” 8-2-1940, p. 4.)

Aug 3: “Akron, Aug. 3. – Coroner R. E. Amos reported today that only nine of the 43 persons losing their lives in the passenger coach-freight train crash in Cuyahoga Falls Wednesday died from the force of the impact….” (Salem News, OH. “Fire Claimed Most Lives In Accident.” 8-3-1940, p. 1.)

Aug 6: “Akron, Aug. 6. – Conductor Harry B. Shafer of the ill-fated Pennsylvania railroad gas-electric coach that crashed into a freight train at Cuyahoga Falls last Wednesday killing 43 persons, told Summit county Coroner R. E. Amos today that both he and Engineer Thomas Murtaugh had received orders to sidetrack the car and allow the freight train to pass. According to the coroner, Shafer said he received the order to stop on the Silver Lake siding a mile north of the crash scene and went to his usual place back in the car. A short time later he noticed the coach had passed the siding and went forward to ask Murtaugh why he had not stopped, Shafer told Dr. Amos. It was when he went forward, Dr. Amos quoted Shafer a saying, that he saw the freight train coming.” (Defiance Crescent-News, OH. “Conductor Says Orders Received to Go On Siding.” 8-6-1940, 1.)

Aug 23: “Akron, O., Aug. 23. – Summit County Coroner R. E. Amos advanced a theory today that Thomas L. Murtaugh, engineer of the gasoline engine ‘Doodlebug’ train which collided with a freight and killed forth-three persons July 31, had been overcome with monoxide fumes shortly before the wreck at Cuyahoga Falls.

“The coroner, investigators for the interstate commerce commission and F. H. Frick, division superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad, questioned Murtaugh at a hospital where he has been confined since the wreck.. Amos said the engineer had no recollection of the accident….In explaining his theory of monoxide poisoning Dr. Amos said that all gasoline engines emit a monoxide vapor, although the Doodlebug’s exhaust ran over the top of the engine cab, a gust of wind ‘could easily sweep fumes into the cab,’ he pointed out.

“After talking with Murtaugh Dr. Amos said: ‘He doesn’t remember the wreck. He doesn’t even know there was a wreck. He doesn’t even remember whistling for the train crossing before he got to the siding where he was supposed to wait. He remembers having the orders in his pocket. These were the orders for him to wait at Silver Lake for the freight that was running extra to pass him. The last time he remembers thinking about these orders was at Dead Man’s Hollow, outside of Hudson and some distance from Cuyahoga Falls. “From there on, Murtaugh says, his mind went blank until he saw the approaching freight engine. He says he put on the emergency brake, turned on the sand, shut off the engine and blew the whistle. Then he jumped,’ Dr. Amos said.

“Murtaugh has not yet been told that anyone was killed in the wreck. Physicians said he may be released from the hospital next week. He will again be questioned Tuesday.

“Harry Shaefer, conductor of the ill-fated train, also is recovering in a hospital ignorant of the death toll. He has had an arm and a leg amputated.” (Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. “Advance Fume Wreck Theory.” 8-23-1940, p. 1.)

Aug 30: “By The Associated Press.
“Orrville, O., Aug. 30 – Thomas L. Murtaugh, 47, engineman of a Pennsylvania Railroad gasoline motor coach that carried 43 persons to their death July 31, is back in his Orrville home – apparently still uninformed of his passengers’ fate.

“One of three survivors of the coach’s collision with a freight train at Cuyahoga Falls, Murtaugh was released yesterday from an Akron hospital where he had been treated for a skull fracture and other injuries suffered in leaping from the engineman’s cab.” (Associated Press. “Doodlebug Engineer Freed From Hospital.” East Liverpool Review, OH. 8-30-1940, p. 11.)

Sources

Associated Press. “43 Persons Meet Fiery Death In Crash Near Akron.” Evening Independent, Massillon, OH. 8-1-1940, p. 1. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/evening-independent-aug-01-1940-p-1/

Associated Press. “Doodlebug Engineer Freed From Hospital.” East Liverpool Review, OH. 8-30-1940, p. 11. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/east-liverpool-review-aug-30-1940-p-11/

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Daily Herald, Circleville, OH. “Blame For Rail Crash Put On Two Train Men.” 8-2-1940, p. 4. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/circleville-herald-aug-02-1940-p-4/

Defiance Crescent-News, OH. “Conductor Says Orders Received to Go On Siding.” 8-6-1940, p. 1. Accessed 8-2-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/defiance-crescent-news-aug-06-1940-p-1/

Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. “Advance Fume Wreck Theory.” 8-23-1940, p. 1. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/xenia-evening-gazette-aug-23-1940-p-1/

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

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

Salem News, OH. “Fire Claimed Most Lives In Accident.” 8-3-1940, p. 1. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salem-news-aug-03-1940-p-9/

Shaw, Robert B. Down Brakes: A History of Railway Accidents, Safety Precautions and Operating Practices in the United States. London & Geneva: P.R. MacMillan Limited, 1961.

Waymarking.com. “Doodlebug Train Disaster – Cuyahoga Falls, OH.” 11-4-2007. Accessed 8-2-2020 at: https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm2HD8_Doodlebug_Train_Disaster_Cuyahoga_Falls_OH

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