Eden train wreck

The railway accident of Eden on August 7, 1904, caused by a washed away under a train bridge. 111 people lost their lives.

Starting position

The express train No. 11, the Missouri Pacific Railroad was on this day from Denver Colorado, St. Louis, Missouri, on the go. The engineer had received a warning to be careful because of a thunderstorm, that the bridges were damaged over to crossing wadis in order and not by flash floods. He therefore rode only about 20 km / h The train consisted of a locomotive with a tender, following a baggage car, seat car and the smoking car. At the end of the train ran the dining car and two Pullman cars. 12 km north of Pueblo was a wadi near the train station Eden to cross ( a northern suburb of Pueblo today).

Accident

The bridge over the wadi was undamaged and so the engineer ran over them. As the train crossed the bridge - the locomotive was already on the opposite bank - tipped a shooting through the Wadi flash flood that just traveling on the bridge to the right car and washed the bridge under the train away. The coupling between the front pulling part and the Pullman car broke. The front pulling part plunged into the river and pulled the engine backwards with. A conductor in one of the Pullman cars that were still on the starting shore, pulled the emergency brake so that the car stopped on the banks of output, the front hanging from the broken bridge over the river.

Follow

From this rear cable portion to 29 people ( the relevant figures vary) could save. In the front pulling part survived only 4 people, 97 were killed, 14 could not be found. Bodies have been recovered up to 35 kilometers below the accident site in the Arkansas River. The use of sniffer dogs had to be canceled due to quicksand. The locomotive was found immediately adjacent to the bridge, which toppled into the river down the valley 7 km car. The first emergency train reached the accident after four hours. The bridge was immediately put in order and recorded the traffic on the route 24 hours after the accident again.

Swell

• Telluride Journal. Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado by August 11. 1904.
• Colorado Springs Gazette v. 9./12. August 1904.