1942 — Sep 24, three-train crash, Smith’s Cut, 1M west of Dickerson, MD –14
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-3-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 20 Edwardsville Intelligencer, IL. “Chronology of the Year 1942,” Dec 31, 1942, p. 8.
— 20 The News, Frederick, MD. “Charred Bodies Removed from Dickerson Wreck.” 9-25-1942.
— 18 Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Freight Crew…Trains Running Close.” 9-29-1942, 2.
— 18 Frederick Post, MD. “Engineer of…Ambassador Collapses…Testifying.” 10-1-1942, 1.
— 18 Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “No Flares Seen, Rail Men Assert.” 9-30-1942, p. 1.
— 14 Cumberland Sunday Times, MD. “5 Victims…Train Wreck Leave Hospital.” 10-4-1942, 2.
— 14 Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “Engineer Quizzed at Wreck Inquiry.” 10-2-1942, 1.
— 14 Stover. History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Purdue Research Fndn., 1987, 311.
— 14 Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1930-1949).” 9-1-2012 modification.
Narrative Information
Stover: “Between 1942 and 1945, several major railroad wrecks resulted in more than 300 deaths, an accident rate much higher than for the two preceding decades. The Baltimore and Ohio suffered one of the first accidents, when on the early morning of September 24, 1942, the Ambassador, from Detroit to Washington hit the rear of the Cleveland Express near Dickerson, Maryland, some thirty-five miles northwest of Washington, D.C. The Cleveland Express had stopped for minor repairs on the foggy morning. The following Ambassador had seemingly ignored the warning torpedoes placed on the track by the flagman. A dozen passengers and two train crewmen died in the accident, the worst rail collision on the Baltimore and Ohio since a 1907 crash in West Virginia.” (Stover, John F. History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Purdue Research Foundation, 1987, p. 311.)
Newspaper
Sep 24, AP: “Dickerson, Md., Sept. 24 (AP) – Two passenger trains and a freight of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad crashed in a roaring, rending wreck near here today and reports from, the scene indicated at least six and possibly 23 persons were killed. The number of injured could not be determined immediately but witnesses said wreckage was strewn over a wide area, that fire broke out in some of the cars immediately afterward and there was much confusion.
“Eighteen of 21 persons were ‘unaccounted for’ in a rear pullman of the Washington-bound Cleveland Night Express into which the Diesel engine of the B. and O.’s crack Ambassador train ploughed about 7:35 a. m. The pullman, thus shunted from the track, spilled into the side of a fast freight bound from Washington to Cumberland, Md., and was struck again.
“Passenger and freight cars and the big Diesel locomotive of the Ambassador, which overturned, were left smashed in the wreck. Baltimore and Ohio officials said many of the 18 persons missing in the rear pullman of the Cleveland Express may be dead or injured. Seventeen persons in the car just ahead of it were accounted for ‘and the injured among them were hospitalized.’
“Witnesses said only one car of the two passenger trains remained on the track. Long lengths of pipe hauled by the freight were tossed over a lengthy area, much of it smashed like match sticks.
“The Cleveland Night Express to Washington stopped half a mile from Dickerson, about 35 miles northwest of Washington, to repair an air pump on its engine. Just after the train began moving, railroad headquarters said in describing the crash, the Ambassador, fast express from Detroit to Washington, ploughed into the rear of the train. Cars buckled and overturned. The Diesel engine on the Ambassador overturned and caught fire, as did a baggage car on the same train. Freight cars jumped the track. Smoke poured from the wreckage….
“Ambulances and fire engines from nearby towns rushed to the scene, and one fireman said fire fighters were hampered by lack of water. He described the wreck as a ‘terrible scene.’ A hospital train with doctors and nurses sped to Dickerson from Washington. Governor Herbert R. O’Conor of Maryland said all available state police and state police ambulances were sent to the wreck.
“All members of the three train crews were reported safe. Baltimore and Ohio officials said it was the first time there had been a fatal wreck on the road since 1919.
“The road officials said a flagman had been sent out while the Cleveland train was standing and being repaired, and that he had been recalled as the train started up. An official added that either he neglected to put out a warning torpedo, or that the torpedo had failed to explode.
“Investigators were sent out by the safety bureau of the Interstate commerce Commission.
“The first injured were taken to Frederick, Md., about 18 miles north. Others were rushed to Hagerstown, 45 miles northwest, and an emergency hospital at the state penal farm near Hagerstown was made ready to receive still others….” (Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Three B & O Trains Wrecked; 23 Persons are Feared Dead.” 9-24-1942, pp. 1-2.)
Sep 24: “September 24 – Twenty dead as two Washington-bound B. & O. passenger trains smash, involving freight train on adjoining tracks near Dickerson, Md.” (Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL). “Chronology of the Year 1942,” Dec 31, 1942, p. 8.)
Sep 25: “The charred remains of all the passengers who were trapped in the blazing sleeper of the Cleveland night express in the Dickerson train tragedy yesterday morning had been removed by today and were taken to Rockville while efforts at identification continued.
“No list of the dead had been released at noon from any source and it appeared to local officials who aided in the investigation that it was going to be extremely difficult to make positive identification except in a few cases. At least 20 persons were, believed to have died in the wreck.
“Meanwhile, the westbound track at the scene of the wreck in Smith’s Cut about a mile west of Dickerson was opened this morning and rail traffic was resumed…wrecking crews, who worked throughout the night at the scene, were engaged at noon in completing repairs to the eastbound track and it was believed it would be opened some time during the day.
“A charge of manslaughter was lodged against the engineer of the Ambassador, the Detroit-Baltimore train which rammed the Cleveland express. The engineer, Raymond R. McClelland, of Baltimore, was released under $3,000 bond after State’s Attorney Ben G. Wilkinson, of Montgomery county, had declared that the evidence ‘indicates gross negligence.’ A hearing was scheduled before Magistrate William D. Clark, of Montgomery county, on October 10, the Associated Press reported.
“Meanwhile, the ten persons who sustained the most serious injuries in the accident were recovering at the Frederick City Hospital. Three remained in serious conditions. In a continued critical condition at noon was Thomas L. Rogers, 16, of Pittsburgh, Pa., whose brother apparently perished in the wreck….
“Sheriff Horace M. Alexander, who returned to Frederick this morning after an all-night vigil at the scene of the wreck, said virtually all of the remains of the persons in the sleeper had been taken from the car late last night. The battered car, ripped apart when it was struck by the Diesel engine of the Ambassador, had been removed from the right-of-way. Before he left this morning, some clothing with charred flesh was found under some of the debris and taken away….” (The News, Frederick, MD. “Charred Bodies Removed from Dickerson Wreck.” 9-25-1942, p. 1.)
Wikipedia: “….All of those who died were in the last car of the stopped train. The engineer of the striking train was convicted of manslaughter by locomotive and sent to prison for two and a half years.” (Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1930-1949).” 9-1-2012 modification.)
Sources
Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Freight Crew Claims Trains Running Close.” 9-29-1942, 2. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=96697104
Cumberland Sunday Times, MD. “5 Victims of Train Wreck Leave Hospital.” 10-4-1942, 2. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=96697150
Edwardsville Intelligencer, IL. “Chronology of the Year 1942,” Dec 31, 1942, p. 8. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=1665978
Frederick Post, MD. “Engineer of the Ambassador Collapses While Testifying.” 10-1-1942, 1. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=10608401
Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “Engineer Quizzed at Wreck Inquiry.” 10-2-1942, 1. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=94535573
Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “No Flares Seen, Rail Men Assert.” 9-30-1942, p. 1. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=94175612
Stover, John F. History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Purdue Research Foundation, 1987. Partially Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=IEPCqQErPHAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
The News, Frederick, MD. “Charred Bodies Removed from Dickerson Wreck.” 9-25-1942, p. 1. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33833246
Wikipedia. “List of rail accidents (1930-1949).” 9-1-2012 modification. Accessed 10-12-2012 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_%281930%E2%80%931949%29#1942