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Great Train Wreck of 1856
The Great Train Wreck of 1856 occurred in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, between Camp Hill station (known as Sandy Run, Camp Hill, Sellwick and finally Fellwick station before being closed in 1996) and Fort Washington station, on July 17, 1856. Two trains, traveling on the same track in converging directions, collided, killing between 59 and 67, and injuring over 100. The incident was referred to as The Camp Hill Disaster in Montgomery County, and The Picnic Train Tragedy in Philadelphia. It was the deadliest railroad catastrophe in the world up to that time and became one of the signature events of its era.
Growing impetus for the construction of a railroad connecting Philadelphia with the Lehigh Valley resulted in the incorporation on April 8, 1852, of the Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap Railroad Company. A spur of the railroad, whose name was changed on April 18, 1853, to the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was formally opened Monday, July 2, 1855, with an excursion from Cohoquinoque station, at Front and Willow Streets in Philadelphia, to Wissahickon (present-day Ambler), an outlying area to the northwest. Farmers could now ship their produce more economically to markets increasingly far from home. The railroad, which transported both freight and people, was already becoming an important component of local commerce when the wreck occurred.
An excursion train operated by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, known as the "Picnic Special," had been contracted by St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia's Kensington section to send their Sunday School children on a picnic in Shaeff's Woods, a sprawling grove near the railroad's Wissahickon (present-day Ambler) station. July 17 was one of the hottest days of the year and the children looked forward to a full day at the park. The train, reported as carrying 1,100 people by The New York Times (although there may have been as many as 1,500), was due to arrive in Wissahickon at 6 a.m. It left Cohocksink depot at Master Street and Germantown Avenue at 5:10 a.m., 23 minutes late, partly due to the large number of passengers aboard.
The train's locomotive was called Shakamaxon (in honor of Kensington's Native American name [citation needed]) and was operated by engineer Henry Harris under conductor Edward F. Hoppel. The engine, known for having low steam pressure, was under a sizable strain as it pulled between 10 and 12 cars overloaded with passengers. A priest, Daniel Sheridan, was in the lead car with the older children. The rear cars carried women and the younger children. The train had to make periodic stops to regain enough pressure to continue.
At the Wissahickon (present-day Ambler) station another train, the Aramingo, with conductor William Vanstavoren and engineer William Lee, waited for the excursion to pass on the single track line that had opened one year and 15 days earlier. Shakamaxon was late, but the conductor did not use the telegraph to communicate with Cohoquinoque and had no idea when the excursion had left. There was a customary 15-minute waiting period for regularly scheduled trains, but the picnic special was an excursion train, which confused matters. At 6:15, the Aramingo, carrying 20 passengers from Gwynedd, pulled out of the station.
The conductor of Shakamaxon was confident he could make up for the time he had lost. He knew the Aramingo was due in the opposite direction on the same single track, but estimated they could use the siding at Edge Hill to safely pass each other. As he neared a blind curve just past Camp Hill Station, the train was travelling slightly downhill. Aramingo was rounding the same curve with the same blind spot. Harris blew the whistle almost continuously, but this apparently kept him from hearing the other train's whistle; neither engineer knew exactly where the other was.
As the two trains rounded the curve, the engineers finally caught sight of one another before colliding head-on at 6:18 a.m., between the Camp Hill station and the present-day crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Trenton cut-off over the Bethlehem branch of the Reading Railroad.
The boilers made direct contact causing an explosion heard up to five miles away. The three forward cars of the picnic train were obliterated and the subsequent derailment caused a fire to spread among the wooden cars. The initial impact did not kill most of the victims; most were caught in burning derailed cars that were on their sides. The women and children who occupied the rear coaches were able to escape serious injury.
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Great Train Wreck of 1856
The Great Train Wreck of 1856 occurred in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, between Camp Hill station (known as Sandy Run, Camp Hill, Sellwick and finally Fellwick station before being closed in 1996) and Fort Washington station, on July 17, 1856. Two trains, traveling on the same track in converging directions, collided, killing between 59 and 67, and injuring over 100. The incident was referred to as The Camp Hill Disaster in Montgomery County, and The Picnic Train Tragedy in Philadelphia. It was the deadliest railroad catastrophe in the world up to that time and became one of the signature events of its era.
Growing impetus for the construction of a railroad connecting Philadelphia with the Lehigh Valley resulted in the incorporation on April 8, 1852, of the Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap Railroad Company. A spur of the railroad, whose name was changed on April 18, 1853, to the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was formally opened Monday, July 2, 1855, with an excursion from Cohoquinoque station, at Front and Willow Streets in Philadelphia, to Wissahickon (present-day Ambler), an outlying area to the northwest. Farmers could now ship their produce more economically to markets increasingly far from home. The railroad, which transported both freight and people, was already becoming an important component of local commerce when the wreck occurred.
An excursion train operated by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, known as the "Picnic Special," had been contracted by St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia's Kensington section to send their Sunday School children on a picnic in Shaeff's Woods, a sprawling grove near the railroad's Wissahickon (present-day Ambler) station. July 17 was one of the hottest days of the year and the children looked forward to a full day at the park. The train, reported as carrying 1,100 people by The New York Times (although there may have been as many as 1,500), was due to arrive in Wissahickon at 6 a.m. It left Cohocksink depot at Master Street and Germantown Avenue at 5:10 a.m., 23 minutes late, partly due to the large number of passengers aboard.
The train's locomotive was called Shakamaxon (in honor of Kensington's Native American name [citation needed]) and was operated by engineer Henry Harris under conductor Edward F. Hoppel. The engine, known for having low steam pressure, was under a sizable strain as it pulled between 10 and 12 cars overloaded with passengers. A priest, Daniel Sheridan, was in the lead car with the older children. The rear cars carried women and the younger children. The train had to make periodic stops to regain enough pressure to continue.
At the Wissahickon (present-day Ambler) station another train, the Aramingo, with conductor William Vanstavoren and engineer William Lee, waited for the excursion to pass on the single track line that had opened one year and 15 days earlier. Shakamaxon was late, but the conductor did not use the telegraph to communicate with Cohoquinoque and had no idea when the excursion had left. There was a customary 15-minute waiting period for regularly scheduled trains, but the picnic special was an excursion train, which confused matters. At 6:15, the Aramingo, carrying 20 passengers from Gwynedd, pulled out of the station.
The conductor of Shakamaxon was confident he could make up for the time he had lost. He knew the Aramingo was due in the opposite direction on the same single track, but estimated they could use the siding at Edge Hill to safely pass each other. As he neared a blind curve just past Camp Hill Station, the train was travelling slightly downhill. Aramingo was rounding the same curve with the same blind spot. Harris blew the whistle almost continuously, but this apparently kept him from hearing the other train's whistle; neither engineer knew exactly where the other was.
As the two trains rounded the curve, the engineers finally caught sight of one another before colliding head-on at 6:18 a.m., between the Camp Hill station and the present-day crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Trenton cut-off over the Bethlehem branch of the Reading Railroad.
The boilers made direct contact causing an explosion heard up to five miles away. The three forward cars of the picnic train were obliterated and the subsequent derailment caused a fire to spread among the wooden cars. The initial impact did not kill most of the victims; most were caught in burning derailed cars that were on their sides. The women and children who occupied the rear coaches were able to escape serious injury.