1961 — Feb 2, train derails due to high speed (Philadelphia Racing Special), Bowie, MD– 6

–6 New York Times. “Bowie Train Wreck Laid to High Speed.” 2-4-1961, p. 40.
–6 Rasmussen. “The train derailed as it raced to the track. Wreck…” Baltimore Sun, 2-1-1998.

Narrative Information

Rasmussen/Baltimore Sun: “The temperature was a bitter 15 degrees and the threat of snow was in the air, but that didn’t stop racing fans from trudging to Penn Station Feb. 2, 1961, to await the arrival of the Philadelphia Racing Special. The train left its namesake city at 11 that morning, with stops at Chester, Pa., Wilmington, Del., Elkton and Aberdeen to pick up about 300 fans for an afternoon of betting on the horses at Bowie Race Course. The 11-car Pennsylvania Railroad train, pulled by two locomotives, was six minutes late when it stopped in Baltimore….

“At Bowie, the train would swing off the mainline for the three-mile journey to the track, where it would lay over until the races ended. In a weathered shack at the junction, Pennsy employee Charles W. Smith, 26, waited to turn the switch as the trains entered and left the racetrack spur.

“That morning, the first train had left the mainline, and Smith was waiting for the second, which was due at 12: 55 p.m. but was running three minutes late. “As Smith saw it coming around the curve he checked the switch and gave the ‘O.K.’ sign to the engineer high in the big diesel locomotive. The engineer signaled back with two high wails on the diesel horn,” The Sun reported.

“Suddenly, the two 335,000-ton engines lunged into the air, ripping up hundreds of feet of track as they careened over a 15-foot embankment, dragging two coaches down with them. As the remaining cars crumpled along the track, passengers were “thrown around like rag dolls,” said one person on board…. “I was just returning back to the hut when I saw the train jump a little in the air and then disappear over the bank,” Smith told The Sun. “I didn’t see anything more because I jumped over the bank, too. I wasn’t going to wait around and see whether those cars fell on me.”

“The wreckage came to a stop a few hundred feet from where Smith was huddling in the woods. “I could see passengers running through the wrecked cars and smashing windows to get out,” he told the newspaper….

“Six people were killed and nearly 243 hurt in the accident. Among the dead were two people who were crushed when the bottom of their coach was ripped apart by the derailment and they fell under the train.

“Adding to the tragedy was the unfortunate behavior of some passengers. Many of those who weren’t hurt just stood around or, worse, climbed over the injured and dying and started walking toward the track, determined not to miss the day’s races….

“At the official inquiry conducted in Washington by the Interstate Commerce Commission several weeks later, engineer Harold W. Horner, 62, claimed frozen brakes caused his train to jump the rails….

“But after conducting tests on the train’s equipment and examining its speed tapes, the ICC arrived at a different conclusion — that the train was going too fast when it reached the junction.

“The Evening Sun reported that speed tapes showed the train “crossed the Patuxent River Bridge less than a mile from the accident scene at 62 miles an hour. The railroad apparently wants to show the train entered the race track spur from the mainline at such a high speed that even the application of emergency brakes could not have prevented it from overturning.”

“Joseph W. White, Pennsy’s chief air-brake supervisor, told the ICC, “I do not consider [freezing] possible,” and that during examination of the train’s air brake equipment, it functioned as intended….” (Rasmussen, Fred “The train derailed as it raced to the track. Wreck: The 1961 accident near the Bowie Race Course was initially blamed on brake failure, but later it was determined that excessive speed was the cause.” Baltimore Sun, 2-1-1998.)

Newspaper at the time

Feb 3, NYT: “Bowie, Md., Feb. 3 (AP) – An official of the Pennsylvania Railroad said today that excessive speed apparently caused a train derailment that killed six persons and injured more than 100 near here yesterday.

“Seven cars of a special eleven-car train from Philadelphia went off the rails. The train was trying to made a left turn from the main line onto a spur leading to the Bowie race course.

“James P. Newell, the railroad’s vice president in charge of operations, issued this statement in Philadelphia:

All physical evidence indicates that the speed of the train as it entered the racetrack switch was excessive, although the brakes were applied and were functioning prior to the time of derailment. Completed investigation will be required before any determination can be made as to why the speed was not properly controlled.

“Meanwhile the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered a public hearing in Washington starting Feb. 15.

“Heavy snow hampered the work of fifty-five railroad men today as they struggled to clear the wreckage….” (New York Times. “Bowie Train Wreck Laid to High Speed.” 2-4-1961, p. 40.)

Sources

New York Times. “Bowie Train Wreck Laid to High Speed.” 2-4-1961, p. 40. Accessed 10-31-2022 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/02/04/118897922.html?pageNumber=40

Rasmussen, Fred “The train derailed as it raced to the track. Wreck: The 1961 accident near the Bowie Race Course was initially blamed on brake failure, but later it was determined that excessive speed was the cause.” Baltimore Sun, 2-1-1998.