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| The jumbled wreckage of the Red Arrow Image Retrieved From: https://www.gendisasters.com/ |
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Train No. 68, the Red Arrow, left Detroit, Michigan for its sprint to New York at 5:20pm on February 17, 1947. Two Pennsylvania Railroad K4s steam locomotives were the hotshot iron horses pulling the train. In the lead was engine #422 with 53 year-old Michael Billig at the throttle, a seasoned engineer with the Pennsylvania Railroad. As engineer of the lead engine, Billig controlled the entire train. Behind his engine was locomotive # 3771 and its two-man crew. Fourteen cars carrying over 200 passengers, porters, mail clerks, and train crew were coupled behind the locomotives.
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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 passed a control point near the summit of the Alleghenies near Gallitzin, still over an hour behind schedule. As the train crested, Billig closed the throttle and lightly applied the brakes to slow the train for the decent down the mountain. About a mile below was Bennington Curve, the first of many that snaked the tracks down the mountain to Altoona.
As the Red Arrow crested the summit and entered the tunnel at Gallitzin, Billig estimated his speed to be 25mph. The speed limit for the track immediately before Bennington Curve was 35mph. Bennington Curve itself had a 30mph speed restriction. As his engine came into the curve, Billig later reported that the throttle he had closed had inexplicably opened, accelerating the train. Michael quickly closed it. No sooner than he did, he felt his his engine begin to heel over to its side. It was 3:22am.
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| An aerial photo of Bennington Curve in the early 1950's. The Red Arrow would be traveling from left to right. Image Retrieved From: Penn Pilot |
When 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 torches and 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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| A map of the wreck. Created by the Author |
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. Broken steam pipes had left him with severe scalds in addition to lacerations, and internal injuries. He remained conscious and was transported to the hospital in Altoona where he remained until April.
"How?" was the question on everyone's mind. An investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the federal agency overseeing the nation's railroads, the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission, and the Pennsylvania Railroad attempted to find that answer.
The condition of the track was one of the first components scrutinized. Track inspectors scoured the rails before and at the point of derailment. Their investigation ruled out that a defect or obstruction on the track had influenced the wreck. Damage to the 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 30 hours prior to the wreck, and another train had traveled around Bennington Curve on the exact same track as the Red Arrow, just mere minutes before.
Once the locomotives and passenger cars were raised from the ravine, they were transported back to Altoona for a detailed inspection. None of the wheels displayed any damage consistent with striking an obstruction and were otherwise in good order. Both throttles were found in the closed position. The brake equipment on both of the engines and cars were tested and found serviceable. The functionality of critical components enabled investigators to rule out that mechanical or track related defect had caused the incident.
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| An aerial view of the wreck Associated Press Photo |
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 witnessed the train pass through Gallitzin. An important point to make clear is that both engines did not have speedometers onboard, nor were they required equipment at the time. Speed was calculated by counting the seconds between mileposts or by the sound and feel of the engine by an experienced engineer.
Engineer Billig later testified that he judged his speed to be 31mph before entering the curve. As the engine nosed into the curve, 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 lean 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 had a speed recorder along its length, 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 30 mph limit three times within that period. Other recorded speeds averaged between 15-28 mph.
Interviews of the Red Arrow’s conductor, flagman, and brakemen collaborated Billig’s statement in that they estimated the train’s speed at 30mph and that the cars were "riding smoothly" right up until the derailment. However, testimony from a train crew on an adjacent track roughly half a mile before Bennington Curve challenged this estimation. Two of the train crew estimated the Red Arrow's speed to around 45 mph. Another crewman believed the passing train was traveling 40-45mph. The fourth estimated the Red Arrow's speed to be 35-40 mph. One of the train crew remarked that the Red Arrow was traveling "much faster than usual." Three of the four trainmen also stated they saw sparks coming from the wheels of the passenger cars.
Mechanical engineers of the Pennsylvania Railroad set about calculating how fast the train would have to be traveling to be lifted from the rails by centrifugal force. Engineers came to the conclusion that for the 320,000lbs.engines to be lifted from the rails, they would need to be traveling at least 65.1mph. How the train reached that speed was never determined by railroad officials.
Investigators were left with the following conclusions: the track had no evidence of obstructions or defects; critical components of the locomotives and cars including the brakes and wheels were in proper running condition; and testimony from survivors and witnesses contradicted the speed that physics was objectively stating the train was traveling. 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 without casting any definitive blame on the Pennsylvania Railroad or its employees.
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 |
A suit filed against the Pennsylvania Railroad in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas in 1948 brought some interesting details regarding the disaster to light. The petitioner was Antoinette Turek who had been on the Red Arrow along with her husband Frank, a Pennsylvania Railroad employee, and their two children in the train's third car. As the train derailed, the third car end up upside down partially on top of the first car. Antoinette and her children escaped with relatively minor injuries, however Frank's wounds proved fatal.
Her wrongful death suit against the Pennsylvania Railroad included testimony that stated that she had been on trains traversing Bennington Curve "18-20 times" in the past. She reported that on the morning of the disaster, she felt the train pick up speed shortly after exiting the tunnel near the summit at Gallitzin. Turek remarked that "[the] cars swayed from side to side, baggage fell from overhead racks, and passengers were jostled one against another."
The Pennsylvania Railroad introduced time records as evidence that the train had not been speeding when it derailed at Bennington Curve. These records included documented times when the Red Arrow passed control points manned by railroad personnel. These time records indicated that the Red Arrow had been consistently running under the speed limit on its run from Pittsburgh, quite unusual for a crack passenger train running an hour behind schedule.
According to a superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad, based on these time records and the locations of the derailed cars, the Red Arrow was traveling at 22 mph when it jumped the track. However, no evidence was introduced to explain how the train derailed at this much lower speed. Upon cross examination, the representative admitted that he never had been involved in investigating a derailment on such a sharp curve. Engineer Belig again testified stating that he felt a "bump" before the derailment that he interpreted as the locomotive's suspension failing. He was then scalded from a broken steam pipe and remembered nothing after that point. Under cross examination, Bellig admitted that the "bump" came after the locomotive derailed. No mention of the locomotive throttle coming unlatched came about during the trial.
As for the time records, the trial judge stated that, "The time records relied on by the defendant [Pennsylvania Railroad] as collaborating the engineer's testimony were at best inconclusive, for they disclosed a discrepancy and also an apparent, although denied, alteration." Council further highlighted that while the Pennsylvania Railroad had investigated the incident thoroughly, it "offered no affirmative evidence to explain the happening of the incident."
Judgement ruled in favor of Antoinette Turek, granting a $15,000 payout. However, the Pennsylvania Railroad appealed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling stating that while Turek had proven an accident had occurred, she had not introduced the required evidence to indicate that the railroad was guilty of gross negligence. A writ of certiorari for the United States Supreme Court to hear the case was prepared by Turek's council, however this writ was later denied.
It appeared that the Pennsylvania Railroad attempting to distance itself from the calculated overturning speed of 65mph that was published in the ICC report and brought up during the trial. While the railroad was adamant that the Red Arrow was not speeding, it introduce no evidence to explain how the train derailed at this much lower speed. It also brings into question the times recorded by control point operators. The last two "confirmed" times used by the railroad were 3:17am, when the Red Arrow passed the last manned control point west of Gallitzin, and 3:22am when the track indicator light at the control point went out, indicating the electrical circuit that flowed through the rails was disrupted by the derailment. Are these times truly accurate, or are they fabricated to tell a less incriminating version of the story?
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| A Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train on Bennington Curve in 1925 Image Retrieved From: Library of Congress |
The Red Arrow had not been Bennington Curve's only victim. Prior to the Red Arrow's derailment, there had been three other ICC investigated wrecks at this location. Those wrecks with their casualty counts are as follows: April 27, 1921- 2 killed 21 injured, December 19, 1925-1 killed 37 injured, and August 29, 1927- 2 killed 3 injured. Newspaper coverage of these wrecks was rather limited, a fact that might be tied to the fatalities being limited to railroad personnel.
Several overlapping details are shared between the Red Arrow and the 1927 wreck. It occurred in the early morning hours at 2:23 am with foggy weather conditions. The train involved was another crack passenger train named the Broadway Limited running a few minutes behind schedule. It consisted of ten cars pulled by two K4-class locomotives traveling on the same track that the Red Arrow would traverse two decades later. Both locomotives were thrown onto their left sides and sent skidding across the adjacent tracks, with the second engine going down over the embankment, dragging the first car with it. Four other cars derailed but remained upright. Fatalities were limited to the crewmen of the lead locomotive. All crewmembers were "experienced men" per the ICC report.
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| Evening Star August 29, 1927 |
Like the Red Arrow, witnesses were inconsistent at estimating the train's speed at the time of derailment. Unlike the Red Arrow, the crew of the second locomotive survived the wreck. Both men stated they did not notice anything unusual until the engine derailed. Speed was estimated at 25 mph by both employees. The conductor also did not believe anything to be amiss, but estimated that the train was traveling at least 40 mph based on the movement of the car as the train hit the curve. Riding in the first car was the baggage master for the train. He estimated that the train was traveling between 30-35 mph at the time of the wreck.
Before the wreck, the brakes on the train had been tested in Pittsburgh and found to be in working order. Several hours before the arrival of the train, a track walker had inspected the track at the curve and reported it in good condition. Examination of the track and train after the wreck found everything to be in proper serviceable condition. The only conclusion the ICC reached was that the train was traveling at in excess of the posted speed restriction.
Following the incident, the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission called for the Pennsylvania Railroad to reduce the speed limit on Bennington Curve. The PRR yielded to this request and lowered the speed to 20 mph. This restriction persisted until 1946, when it was once again returned to 30 mph. Why this restriction was lifted is not known. Interestingly enough, there were no other ICC investigated incidents involving Bennington Curve during the twenty year period where the speed limit was restricted, casting more doubt that the Red Arrow could have overturned at 22 mph as suggested by the Pennsylvania Railroad during Turek's wrongful death suit.
In June 1947, an article in the Union Press-Courier reported that a representative from the Pennsylvania Railroad had announced that the company was experimenting with "various types of warning systems at Bennington Curve." At the time of its publishing, no recommendations had been made, but tests were continuing. It's not known whether anything came out of these experiments, only that they were too late at saving the 29 lives lost on Bennington Curve in the last two decades.
Even today as we remember those lost that tragic night, we still do not know for certain what transpired as the Red Arrow approached Bennington Curve in that pre-dawn darkness. Unfortunately, we never will.
For those who would like to learn more about the Red Arrow, Dennis McIlnay’s book, The Wreck of the Red Arrow: An American Train Tragedy, is a great resource for understanding the wreck and the impact it had on 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
Simmons-Bordman Publishing Company (1927). General news. Railway Electrical Engineer. Google Books. 18.https://www.google.com/books/edition/Railway_Electrical_Engineer/Bh3nAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Train believed to be going to fast on curve. (1947,Feburary). Union-Press Courier. Retrieved from: Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87079954/1947-02-27/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Bennington+Curve
Train believed to be going to fast on curve. (1947,Feburary). Union-Press Courier. Retrieved from: Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87079954/1947-02-27/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Bennington+Curve
Tratman, E. (1926). Gauge, grades, and curves. Railroad Track and Maintenance. Retrieved from:https://www.google.com/books/edition/Railway_Track_and_Maintenance/yxdNAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=runout+of+superelevation+%2B+pennsylvania+railroad&pg=PA335&printsec=frontcover
United State Supreme Court (1951).Transcript of record. Retrieved From: Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=nB2phTygqN4C&pg=RA14-PA5&dq=red+arrow+%2B+bennington+curve&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQuKCukbqLAxXSMlkFHZAzGAEQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=red%20arrow%20%2B%20bennington%20curve&f=false
(1927, October 6). Local and state news of interest. Patton Courier. Retrieved from: Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87079953/1927-10-06/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Broadway+Limited+wrecked
(1947, June 5). PRR tests signals. Union Press Courier. Retrieved from: Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87079954/1947-06-05/ed-1/seq-4/#words=Bennington+Curve
Without more information, the cause was indeterminate. The intrinsic physics suggest the best guesstimate to the answer. These events are always gut wrenching and vexing.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was in the Altoona hospital when they brought in people hurt on the train. She said people were screaming and children were crying, aboard the train to was a group of circus people,, little people, one in sdt was going around singing to children calming them down.
ReplyDeleteI was born morning of 17th, my mother was on a bed in the hall, when the call came in all nurse's and Drs disappeared going to the site of the wreck.
I went home the next day, the 17 there was a terrible snow storm. Today Mark's 78 year's ago
My sincere thanks for taking the time to write about your connection to the Red Arrow tragedy. It is much appreciated!
DeleteMy father was a Navy sailor aboard that train and was severely injured.
ReplyDeleteMy father, William Samek was the supervisor of the railway mail car on that train run for many years. His missed his run that night from Pittsburgh to NYC due to the flu. Some of his railway mail crew died that night as I recall. He was lucky missing his shift
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was George Bowman, a mail clerk onboard. My family told me he hung upside down for several days and then died. He supposedly wrote a note to my grandmother while trapped and hanging in the mail car.
ReplyDelete