1887 Great Chatsworth train wreck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Great Chatsworth Train Wreck**
Details

Date and time:	Around midnight, August 10–August 11, 1887
Location:	Chatsworth, Illinois
Rail line:	Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad
Cause	Bridge collapse
Statistics
Trains:	1
Passengers:	700
Deaths:	81–85
Injuries:	169–372
Lists of rail accidents

The Great Chatsworth Train Wreck was a major rail accident that occurred late on the night of August 10, 1887, 3 miles (5 km) east of the town of Chatsworth, Illinois, U.S.A.. A Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad (TP&W) train bound for Niagara Falls from Peoria crossed over a trestle weakened earlier in the day by a fire, causing it to collapse. Between 81 and 85 people were killed, and 169–372 injured.^[1]

1 Crash
2 Historical marker
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Crash

The summer of 1887 had been hot and dry. Fearing that sparks from the steam engines of the trains could ignite brush fires, the TP&W began performing controlled burns to prevent an uncontrollable brush fire. On the day of the accident, TP&W crews performed a controlled burn near the site of the accident—it is suspected that failure to extinguish the fire resulted in the charring of the bridge.^[2]

That evening, a TP&W train departed Peoria, traveling east through Eureka and Chenoa. Two steam engines pulled six fully loaded wooden passenger cars, six sleeper cars, and three luggage cars. In total, the train carried about 700 vacationers taking advantage of a special offer to visit Niagara Falls.^[3] Just before the accident site, the coach accelerated down a slope, reaching 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). The first engine successfully crossed the weakened bridge as it collapsed; the second engine crashed into the side of the hill, while each following passenger car telescoped into the next. Sleeper cars attached to the rear of the train ground to a halt just short of the bridge.^[2]

Four days later, the TP&W gathered together the remaining wreckage and set it on fire. The crash resulted in the increased use of steel in passenger cars.^[2]

[edit] Historical marker

In 1954, the state of Illinois placed a historical marker commemorating the event along U.S. Route 24. The marker has the following text:

“	The Chatsworth Wreck - Midnight, August 10–11, 1887 - One half mile north on the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad occurred one of the worst wrecks in American rail history. An excursion train - two engines and approximately twenty wooden coaches - from Peoria to Niagara Falls, struck a burning culvert. Of the 500 passengers about 85 perished and scores were injured.	„
—Erected by the state of Illinois, 1954.