Re: Bizarre wreck on NG BB&K RR- train engulfed in oil

I ran across this strange accident in the Railroad Gazette when doing some research a while back. It is in their monthly tally of train accidents in the United States. It is very interesting to suddenly see this more comprehensive coverage here posted by T A Hunter. It is also interesting to see the historical details of the railroad. I did not realize that it was narrow gage. Here is how the Gazette covered it:


February 1884

On the morning of the 15th a passenger train on the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua road when near Bradford, Pa., in a side-hill cut, ran into a river of oil which had escaped from a bursted tank on the hillside, and running down the snow, had covered the bed of the railroad track for over a half-mile. The grade at that point is very steep, and the oil coursed down the bank as if it were a stream of water. There is a sharp curve close by, and before the engineer knew it his train was passing over the highly inflammable oil. It ignited from the furnace of the engine, and immediately set the entire train on fire. The terrible heat from the burning river of oil instantly cracked and shattered every window in the cars. The flames leaped in through the doors, the windows, and through the ventilators. The car wheels splashed through the burning oil, scattering it along the bottom of the cars. The only escape was to jump into the snow at the sides of the cut, which most of those on the train did. The wood-work of the engine was entirely destroyed and it was badly damaged, and the two cars were destroyed. Three passengers, all ladies, were burned to death; five trainmen and 21 passengers were burned or injured by jumping, 12 of them seriously. This is the only accident of the kind on record.