Ran across this today. In 1896, the MKT, as a publicity stunt, staged a train wreck at Crush, Texas. The article is quite interesting, unfortunately the photos are rather poor.

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRailroa...-Crush.htm

HAH!

Today there would be a Congressional investigation, the Government would have seized control of the railroad, the deceased would have had hero's burials, their families would have been remunerated to the point that no descendant for generations would have to toil for a living, the two little kids with the instruments would have a band with state-or-the-art instruments, a recording contract and studio time to write many "worker" songs about the event ... and we'd still be bickering over whether the correct permits had been pulled, in the right order, by the correct contractors and that all required fees had been paid to the proper governmental bureaucracies for final approval to commence work on putting that memorial placque out in that field!

Thank God (I can still say that, can't I?) back then they said, "Whoops! Didn't think that would happen!" and the railroad quietly took care of making arrangements for the families of the deceased privately.

Well ... at least that's how we like to remember "the Good Old Days" when people had couth, scruples, morals, honor and several other fine, upstanding words that describe decent character that have curiously vanished from this nation's lexicon.

So did anyone besides biL and I find this at all interesting? :|

Wow, that is crazy! That would never fly in today's climate.

[quote="P5se Camelback"]HAH!

Today there would be a Congressional investigation, the Government would have seized control of the railroad, the deceased would have had hero's burials, their families would have been remunerated to the point that no descendant for generations would have to toil for a living, the two little kids with the instruments would have a band with state-or-the-art instruments, a recording contract and studio time to write many "worker" songs about the event ... and we'd still be bickering over whether the correct permits had been pulled, in the right order, by the correct contractors and that all required fees had been paid to the proper governmental bureaucracies for final approval to commence work on putting that memorial placque out in that field! [quote]

Also today:
Twenty individuals would have recorded the event on their cell phones which would have ended up on the Evening News. Some would be posted on YouTube and go viral with clips ending up on some sort of "Reality Show". Leno and Letterman would crack jokes during thier monologs. The Mythbusters would do a whole episode tryng to bust it, but in "true Mythbusters fashion" the results would be the same. Two exploding locomotives.
"Don't try this at home...We're what you call..Experts"

How the world has changed... sigh.

It's not really gone - the "entertainers" moved on to barnstorming and staged airplane crashes in the 1920s and 30s, and who doesn't like a good ol' Demolition Derby...!

Andrew

There was a show on one of the "Discover" or "Travel" channels about train wrecks and this was one of the ones they showed. It's been a while, but I do believe they showed a bunch of stills, and maybe some re-enactments, but they did say it was the last one of these crashes the railroad had ever staged. guess they had enough real ones to keep then occupied.

Thanks for bringing this up, it does show how foolhardy and dangerously they did things back then. And BiL and Ed are right, today we might have viewed this behind 3" thick lexan about 100 yards away with $5,000,000 in safety gear attached and with crash dummies running things instead of just plain dummies...

Apparently a similar wreck was arranged at the Minnesota Stat Fair in 1933 and again in 1934. I wonder how popular this became as entertainment around the country?
Ralph

That was interesting to read. I snickered actually when I read the part about the exploding boilers sending shrapnel into the crowd killing and injuring people... "yeah well duh!"

After the first couple of disasters, they toned things down a bit and ran locos with lower pressure and probably a lot less water in the boilers.
I think Trains did an article on staged crashes many years ago.

It's such a shame these days that you can't run events where several spectators can get killed or maimed. It's soooo amusing about what happened in 1896 isn't it tetters.

poliss Wrote:It's such a shame these days that you can't run events where several spectators can get killed or maimed. It's soooo amusing about what happened in 1896 isn't it tetters.

Don't get me wrong, its a amusing in a tragic kinda way. No body thought, "Hmmm, lets see, so the plan is to ram two locomotives into each other at top speed charged with hot furnaces and steam filled pressurized boilers and a whole whack spectators around to watch the ensuing carnage take place...what could possibly go wrong?"

The historical value of the account of the event is priceless though. You'd never get an idea like that off the ground these days because for one, nobody in their right mind would insure you!

I understand your perspective, Tetters. It's like "what were those guys thinking ?" But alas, it was definitely a more innocent time. There is nothing lost in the tragedy if 100+ years later there is a certain amount of bemusement in the story.