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| Passenger cars and engines lay scattered over the embankment Image Retrieved From: https://www.gendisasters.com/ |
Seventy-seven years ago today, the premier Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train the Red Arrow crested the summit of the Alleghenies at Gallitzin, Cambria County on its dash to New York. From here, the entire 12 miles to Altoona would pit the train against gravity. Engineer Billig leaned out the cab window into the foggy night. Behind his engine were fourteen cars full of passengers, many of whom had been lulled into slumber by the gentle rocking of the train. Ahead was Bennington Curve, the first of many that snaked the tracks down the mountain. Engineer Billig had taken many a train around this curve in the past, so it was to his surprise when he felt the engine begin to heel over, followed by the earsplitting sound of the train being ripped apart.
The Red Arrow had left Detroit for New York at 5:20pm on February 17, 1947. Two Pennsylvania Railroad K4s steam locomotives were the hotshot iron horses powering the train. At the head end, was engine #422 with seasoned engineer Michael Billig at the throttle. As lead engineer, Billig was in control of the entire train. Behind his engine was locomotive # 3771 and its two man crew. Coupled behind were fourteen cars full of passengers, porters, mail clerks, and train crew.
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| An example of the PRR's K4s locomotive Image By: Ad Meskens https://commons.wikimedia.org |
After stopping in Pittsburgh, the train departed over an hour late. It was 3:17am when the train neared the summit of the Alleghenies at Gallitzin, still over an hour behind schedule. As the train crested, Billig closed the throttle and lightly applied the brakes to slow the train on the decent down the hill. About a mile below was Bennington Curve. What occurred in the next five minutes remains a mystery to this day.
Bennington Curve had a speed limit of 30mph. Before reaching it, Billig again applied the brakes to check the speed of the train. As the engine came into the curve, Billig noticed that the throttle he closed had inexplicably opened, applying power to the drive wheels. Michael quickly closed it, but he was too late, at 3:22am the Red Arrow hit Bennington Curve at twice the posted speed limit.
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| An aerial photo of Bennington Curve in the early 1950's. The train would be traveling from left to right. Image Retrieved From: Penn Pilot |
Once everything came to a stop, only three of the fourteen cars remained on the rails. Passengers and crew uninjured in the wreck set about rescuing others still trapped in the mangled cars. Many would have to wait for rescuers with heavy machinery to free them. For others, all that could be done was to console them in their final moments.
Since Bennington Curve was inaccessible by road, medical personnel and railroad workers piled into trains in Altoona and rushed to the wreck site. Temporary hospitals and morgues were set up in buildings near the Altoona station to treat the wounded and identify the dead.
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| An aerial photo of the wreck site published in the Evening Star newspaper Retrieved From: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ |
In all, 24 people perished in the disaster: 15 passengers, 6 mail clerks, and 3 train crew. Over 140 others were injured to various degrees. Micheal Billig was the lone survivor from the engine crews. Battered from severe scalds, lacerations, and internal injuries, he remained conscious and received treatment at the hospital where he later recovered.
So what happened? How could such a disaster happen to a premier passenger train with an experienced engineer? An investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and Pennsylvania Railroad attempted to find those answers.
One of the first aspects brought into question was the condition of the track. Was it possible that there was an obstruction or defect that caused the derailment? Track inspectors scoured the battered rails and were able to rule out that a defect or obstruction had caused the wreck. Damage to the steel rails seemed to indicate that the engines were lifted from them, leaving little damage at the initial point of derailment. Track inspectors had examined this stretch of track just 30 hours prior to the wreck. Additionally, another train traveling at 25mph had traversed Bennington Curve just mere minutes before the Red Arrow with no issues. Combined, this evidence indicated that nothing was amiss with the track before the derailment.
The train's braking equipment was also put under scrutiny. Mechanical engineers removed the brake related equipment from the engines after the wreck and transported them to Altoona for testing. Thorough evaluation revealed that the braking system on both engines was in proper working order. Brakes from cars that were still relatively intact were tested as well and found to be in operational condition.
Once the locomotives were raised from the ravine, they were taken back to Altoona and inspected from top to bottom. None of the wheels from the locomotives or tenders displayed any damage from a possible obstruction and were otherwise in good order. Both throttles were found in the closed position. While the locomotives were damaged beyond repair, the functionality of critical components enabled investigators to rule out that a mechanical defect had influenced the incident.
To unravel the Red Arrow’s speed during its final moments, the investigation turned to the train's surviving crew and railroad employees that had watched the train pass through Gallitzin. An important point to make clear is that both engines did not have speedometers on board, nor were they required equipment at this point in time. Speed was calculated by counting the seconds between mileposts (posts spaced every mile along the tracks) or by the “feel” of the engine by an experienced engineer.
Engineer Billig testified that he judged his speed to be 31mph before entering the curve. As the engine nosed into the turn, Billig glanced out the cab window and noticed in his periphery that the throttle had come half open. He recalled that it was open only a “few seconds” before he closed it. Moments later, he felt the engine begin to heel over. How the throttle could have opened on its own was one of the questions that was was never answered during the investigation. By design, the throttle cannot move unless it it is manually unlatched first.
Bennington Curve actually had a speed recorder along its tracks, however the Red Arrow had not traversed the required distance to produce a reading. Investigators dug through the speed recorder data to learn Billig’s history of traversing the curve. The data from the previous six months revealed that he had not once exceeded the speed limit, but had rounded the curve at the posted 30mph limit three times within that period. Other recorded speeds averaged between 15-28mph.
Interviews of the Red Arrow’s conductor, flagman, and brakemen seemed to collaborate Billig’s statement in that they estimated the train’s speed at 30mph. However, testimony from an engine crew on an adjacent track near Gallitzen challenged this estimation. As the Red Arrow passed them, the crew believed the train's speed to be 45-50mph and was "traveling much faster than usual."
With no clear estimation of just how fast the train was traveling before the disaster, investigators turned to objective mathematics and physics. Using the locomotive’s center of gravity, mechanical engineers of the Pennsylvania Railroad calculated that for the 320,000lbs.engines to be lifted from the rails by centrifugal force, it would need to be traveling, in theory, at least 65.1mph. This calculation was also applied to the tenders behind the locomotives. It was determined that for the tenders to be subjected to lifting by centrifugal force upon entering the curve, the train would need to be traveling at least 73 mph. Either calculation put the train at greater than double the posted 30mph speed limit for the curve.
Investigators were left with the following conclusions: the track was in good repair with no evidence of obstructions; critical components of the locomotives including the brakes and wheels were in proper running condition; and interviews with survivors and witnesses could not produce a conclusive explanation of how fast the train was moving at the time it reached the curve. With that, the Interstate Commerce Commission listed the official cause of the wreck as “excessive speed on a curve” and closed the case in April 1947.
No person was ever held liable for the disaster, neither the Pennsylvania Railroad or Michael Billig. A coroner’s inquest was convened in May 1947 to determine if Engineer Billig had committed criminal negligence. Michael maintained that everything had been normal until the engine began to lift from the rails. He reasoned that “someone must have put something on the track or a rail must have been broken.” The jury ultimately found Michael Billig not guilty. Michael continued to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad until retirement; he passed away in 1982.
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| A list of fatalities from the wreck |
Even today as we remember those lost that tragic night, we still do not know for certain what transpired in those last five minutes between Gallitzin and Bennington Curve. Did Engineer Billig forget where he was in the dense fog? Did it perhaps distort how fast he and other crewmembers perceived the train was moving? Was there a defect that was missed? Unfortunately, the ultimate answer will remain a mystery.
For those who would like to learn more about the Red Arrow, I highly recommend Dennis McIlnay’s book, The Wreck of the Red Arrow: An American Train Tragedy, as it is the definitive source for understanding that tragic night and the impact it had for those involved.
McIlnay, D. (2010). The wreck of the Red Arrow: an American train tragedy. Seven Oaks Press. Retrieved from: http://www.sevenoakspress.com/RAW/Excerpts.html
Red Arrow inquest says operation of train was safe.(1947, May). Union-Press Courier. Retrieved from: https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87079954/1947-05-15/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=01%2F01%2F1947&city=&date2=12%2F31%2F1947&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=8&words=Arrow+Red&county=&frequency=&ortext=&proxtext=Red+Arrow&phrasetext=&andtext=&rows=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
Sauro,S. (2017,February). Locals tell story of the red arrow 70 years after railroad disaster. Altoona Mirror. Retrieved from:https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2017/02/locals-tell-story-of-the-red-arrow-70-years-after-railroad-disaster/
Seidel,D. (2017). Red Arrow 70th anniversary. The Coal Bucket. Retrieved from: http://www.trainweb.org/altoona-ry-museum-club/minutes_newsletters/CBv2/COAL%20BUCKET%20WINTER%202017.pdf
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