Malbone Street Wreck
In the railway accident of Malbone Street (English: Malbone Street Wreck or Brighton Beach Line Accident ) Today: Metro Station Prospect Park New York subway in Flatbush, Brooklyn, derailed due to excessive speed on 1 November 1918, train the Brooklyn Rapid transit Company (BRT ) from the Franklin Avenue coming in a tight arc. At least 93 people were killed and over 100 others were injured.
Starting position
The entrance to the former railway station Malbone Street was an S- curve with extremely tight turning radius, which was only a few weeks previously put into operation. At this point, a speed limit of 10 km / h ( 6 mph ) was provided.
The trains used at the time had structures made of wood. The wrecked train consisted of five cars, including the first, fourth and fifth railcar, the cars were two and three sidecar. The motor cars were about twice as heavy as the sidecar and her focus was considerably lower. Normally no two trailers were coupled to each other, but always placed between two railcars. This gave them the required stability.
On the day of the accident, the BRT was strike by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union (BLE ), which represented a portion of the engine driver. This was a lack of locomotive drivers and the train was controlled by a less experienced engine driver. The train was filled with about 900 passengers.
The accident
The engineer usually worked in the personnel planning, had only previously collected one years some experience in shunting of empty trains will not get any knowledge of the track and just before it is used a two-hour training by a driving instructor. 60 hours training were common. The Unfallzug was the first regularly scheduled train he was driving at all.
In the train ran counter to the rule two sidecars, the second and third car, immediately behind the other. Their focus was higher than that of a rail car, especially if the weight was increased by numerous travelers.
Instead of the prescribed 10 km / h, the train approached by 18 clock 22 with a speed estimated at least 50 km / h the station. The train was carried out of the curve. First derailed the chassis of the leading rail car and ripped the following two sidecar from the track. The second and third cars were thrown against the outer arch tunnel wall and smashed. The following car suffered less damage, the last remained almost intact.
Follow
With 93 dead and over 100 injured, this was the second most serious train accident in the U.S. railroad history and the worst in the history of the New York subway. The train driver was uninjured. He and representatives of the operator of BRT were charged with manslaughter but acquitted.
Whether the use of cars had increased with wood structure, the consequences of an accident, remained controversial. Vehicles, which were built partly of wood, remained in use until 1969.
The reputation of the company operating BRT suffered considerably from this accident. Your bankruptcy on New Year's Eve of that year is associated contrary to the facts with this misfortune.
Because of the accident, the Malbone Street was renamed Empire Boulevard.
Worth knowing
The tunnel did not remain another 40 years for travel into operation after 1920, however, for the main course. Today, the tunnel is part of the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and will occasionally have to enter for unscheduled train movements. In 1974 there were in the same place in an accident in which a train derailed and hit the tunnel wall. Here, however, there were no casualties.