1946 — Dec 13, Golden Triangle passenger train and freight trains collide, ~Coulter, OH–19

Compiled 11-3-2023 by Wayne Blanchard for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–19  AP. “19 Reported Dead in 3-Train Collision…” Athens…Messenger, OH, 12-15-1946, p. 1.

–19  Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1940-1949).” 10-31-2023. Accessed 11-3-2023.[1]

Narrative Information

Wikipedia: “December 13, 1946 – near Coulter, Ohio, United States: The PRR’s Golden Triangle sleeper train derails in darkness when it strikes the wreckage of 2 freight trains which had rear-ended half an hour earlier on an adjacent track. 19 killed, 139 injured. Most of the dead are soldiers on furlough from Fort Dix, New Jersey, seated in two day coaches at the front of the train.” (Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1940-1949).” 10-31-2023. Accessed 11-3-2023.)

Newspapers

Dec 13, AP: “Mansfield, O., Dec. 13 (AP) – A pile up of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s crack ‘Golden Triangle’ and two freight trains killed at least 14 persons today and caused injuries to an estimated 50 or more. Nine hours after the wreck at Coulter, 12 miles southeast of here, seven of the dead had been identified and seven more bodies had been found in the wreckage. Rescue crews with torches still were cutting through the mass of twisted steel and splintered wood in search of other victims.

“Approximately 150 of the passengers were soldiers enroute from Fort Dix, N.J., to Chicago for a 1-day Christmas furlough.

“The 13-car train ploughed into the wreckage of two east-bound freight trains which had derailed just a few minutes before at about 2:45 a.m. One freight train had stopped because of a broken air hose and was rammed by a second freight.

“A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Railroad said at Pittsburgh that L. Petoskey, engineer of the second freight, failed to heed an approach signal two miles west of the accident and thus was unable to apply his brakes in time when a stop signal showed 600 feet from the accident. The Pennsylvania spokesman said the approach signal meant the engineer of the second freight should slow down to 30 miles and be prepared to stop the train. Petoskey was not injured.

“The ‘Golden Triangle,’ traveling west on a parallel track, customarily passed that point at 70 miles an hour railroad officials said. As the Triangles’ two locomotives crashed into the wreckage, the second coach back broke in the middle and fell over a 30-foot embankment. The dead were pinned beneath four overturned coaches. Eight coaches remained upright on the rails. H. R. Williams Pennsylvania Railroad agent here, said at least 70 of the 150 troops on the passenger train escaped injury and were placed aboard a special train and moved into Chicago.

“‘The seats were twisted and turned every which way,’ Sheriff Frank Robinson of Richland county said of the overturned coaches….The scene was one of terrible havoc, Sheriff Robinson reported. ‘The rails were badly twisted, cross ties were splintered and torn from the road bed.’….

“‘I had just lit up a cigarette when I felt the brakes slam on. I yelled ‘hit the floor’ and dropped into the aisle. There was a terrific crash and glass and steel flew everywhere. I was thrown outside the car somehow and landed under the wreck on the next track. ‘I ran back inside, hollering for my pals. I couldn’t find them and came here on the first ambulance…” (Associated Press. “Sanduskian Among 14 Persons Known Killed in Train Wreck Near Mansfield. More Lives Feared Lost…” 12-13-1946, p. 1.)

Dec 14: “Mansfield, Dec. 14 – At least a score of persons remained hospitalized today by injuries suffered in the triple-train wreck near Mansfield in which 18 persons, including 11 soldiers, were killed….It was late yesterday before rescue workers recovered the last body in the twisted, scarred jumble of steel. Fifteen hours earlier, the passenger train had hurtled into two freights derailed moments before in a rear-end collision….”  (Circleville Herald, OH. “20 Victims of Wreck Treated. 11 Soldiers Among 18 Killed in Train Pileup…” 12-14-1946, p. 1.)

Dec 15, AP: “Mansfield – (AP) – One more soldier died Saturday [14^th] increasing to 19 the number of dead in the three-train collision on the Pennsylvania Railroad at Coulter, 12 miles southeast of here….The injured list totaled 50, also mostly soldiers, four of them in critical condition here….

“A railroad spokesman said shortly after the crash that Petoskey ignored a signal to slow down. Petoskey asserted at his home that he had clear signals until his fireman, Robert E. Keith, 31, also of Toledo, yelled that he saw red flares seconds before the crash. Keith and Petoskey scrambled over the coal tender after setting the brakes about ’20 lengths from the other freight,’ Petoskey related. Keith was killed, but Petoskey escaped with minor injuries in a leap from the tender ladder.

“F. J. Hughes of Sandusky, brakeman on the second freight, and E. H. Patterson of Canton, engineer on the second passenger train’s two locomotives, also were killed. Charles Reed, 24, of Smithville, fireman on the second passenger locomotive, died in a hospital a few hours later….” (Associated Press. “19 Reported Dead in 3-Train Collision; Engineer Denies Missing Block Signal.” The Sunday Messenger, Athens, OH, 12-15-1946, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “19 Reported Dead in 3-Train Collision; Engineer Denies Missing Block Signal.” The Sunday Messenger, Athens, OH, 12-15-1946, p. 1. Accessed 11-3-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-sunday-messenger-dec-15-1946-p-1/

Associated Press. “Sanduskian Among 14 Persons Known Killed in Train Wreck Near Mansfield. More Lives Feared Lost…” 12-13-1946, p. 1. Accessed 11-3-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-register-star-news-dec-13-1946-p-1/

Circleville Herald, OH. “20 Victims of Wreck Treated. 11 Soldiers Among 18 Killed in Train Pileup; Engineer Denies Blame.” 12-14-1946, p. 1. Accessed 11-3-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/circleville-herald-dec-14-1946-p-9/

Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1940-1949).” 10-31-2023. Accessed 11-3-2023 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(1940%E2%80%931949)#1946

[1] Cites: Shaw, Robert B. A History of Railroad Accidents, Safety Precautions and Operating Practices.1978, pp. 210-211.