Great East Thompson Train Wreck

Infobox rail accident


title= PAGENAME
date= 6:40, December 4, 1891
location= Thompson, Connecticut
coordinates=
line = New York and New England Railroad
cause= dispatcher/crew error
trains= 4
pax=
deaths= 3
injuries= The Great East Thompson Train Wreck was a large rail disaster which occurred in East Thompson, Connecticut, on December 4, 1891. It happened on the New York and New England Railroad, which provided a shortcut from New York City to Boston by making a diagonal across Connecticut. That railroad is now abandoned, and most of its tracks removed. It was one of the most extensive train wrecks in American history, to date the only one to involve four trains.

On the morning of December 4, 1891, four trains were scheduled to pass through the hamlet of East Thompson, in the far northeast corner of Connecticut; the hotshot Long Island & Eastern States Express from New York to Boston via a ferry across Long Island Sound; the Norwich Steamboat Express from the quays of New London also to Boston, the Southbridge Local freight to the town of that name just over the Massachusetts border, and freight train No. 212. To keep the slower No. 212 from impeding the approaching Eastern States Express, the local dispatcher allowed 212 to run on the left-hand track ahead of the express. Unfortunately both the dispatcher and 212's crew had forgotten about the oncoming Southbridge Local freight. At 6:40 AM, just before the East Thompson station, the two freight trains collided head-on violently, jacknifing several cars and tossing one across both eastbound and westbound tracks. " [http://www.courant.com/hc-asked01128.artnov28,0,535509.story Dec. 4 Will Mark 116th Anniversary Of Train Wreck] ", Marlene Clark, Hartford Courant, November 28, 2007]

Meanwhile, the Eastern States Express approached at 50 mph, unaware of the disaster. It crashed into the car across the other track, causing the engine to derail and strike a telephone pole, killing engineer Harry Taber and fireman Gerry Fitzgerald. (Fitzgerald was actually substituting for Mike Flynn, who had been scheduled but was marked off the roster since he had had a premonition of disaster the night before.) Steam from the ruptured engine destroyed a nearby home.

Then the uninjured crewmen remembered the Norwich Steamboat Train. A flagman was sent out, but was too late to get the speeding express to stop. At 6:45 AM, it plowed eight feet into the rear of the Eastern States Express, setting the rear sleeping car on fire as well as the engine cab. Fortunately the crew suffered only cuts and scrapes.

Miraculously, even though all four engines, the sleeper, and a baggage car were destroyed, the track was torn up for about 500 yards east of the passenger station, and hundreds of people were injured in the wreck, only two people were confirmed dead; Harry Taber and Gerry Fitzgerald of the Eastern States Express. A third man, R.H. Rath of New York, was presumed dead, but his body was never found.

Windham County coroner A.G. Bill ruled engineer Henry Wildes and conductor William Dorman of the 212 responsible for Tabor's and Fitzgerald's deaths.

The station has since been torn down, and the former New York & New England Railroad through this area is now an undeveloped rail trail.

References

* Turner, Gregg M.; Jacobus, Melancthon W. "Connecticut Railroads: An Illustrated History." Hartford, Conn.: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1985, 2nd ed., 1989.
* [http://chuckstraub.com/eastthompsontrainwreck.htm The Great East Thompson Train Wreck]