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The 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck was a railway accident which occurred at Union Station in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1953. The brakes on the cars of the ''Federal Express'', a passenger and mail train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, malfunctioned and the train crashed into the station, jumped the passenger platform, and plunged through the floor of the passenger terminal into the basement of the station. There were no deaths, and only 43 people were injured. ==Description of the accident== The ''Federal Express'' (No. 173), was a southbound, Boston-to-Washington, D.C., overnight train carrying mail and passengers. When the train arrived in New Haven, a New Haven electric locomotive replaced the diesel along with adding several passenger cars from Springfield for the run to New York's Penn Station where PRR GG1 No. 4876, an electric locomotive, was coupled on, The train had 16 coaches and sleeping cars (known as "Pullmans").〔Rasmussen, Fred. "Runaway Train Crashed in D.C. Accident." ''Baltimore Sun.'' January 26, 1997.〕 The ''Federal Express'' departed Boston at 11:00 P.M. After making two stops, the train halted about south of Boston. Its brakes were sticking, and a 45-minute inspection occurred. Conductors discovered a closed "angle cock" (a shutoff valve) at the rear of the third car. The airbrake system aboard the rail cars had angle cocks at each end of each car. Both valves had to be open for the airbraking system to operate. The only closed valve would be that at the rear of the final car.〔Bibel, p. 225.〕 Airbrakes on trains are powered by a compressed air tank aboard each car. The engine generates air pressure that is supposed to flow through the airbrake system along the entire length of the train. When this pressure is lessened, valves on the pressurized air tanks come open. The air from the tanks put pressure on the brake disks (or the tread of the wheel), which push against the wheels and cause braking to occur. If the cars separate, from one another or from the engine, the pressure automatically drops and the cars will brake to a stop. Closing an angle cock at any point along the system keeps the air pressure in the airbrakes high, thereby preventing the engine from reducing the air pressure and activating the braking system.〔 A routine inspection during the train's stop in New York City, inspectors later said, found the angle cock in the correct, open position.〔Bibel, p. 227.〕 But an after-accident investigation by the ICC revealed that the handle of the angle cock at the rear of the third coach was not in the correct position, as a design flaw on New Haven coach #8665 allowed the handle of the angle cock valve to come into contact with the car frame, causing the valve to close.〔Interstate Commerce Commission, p. 13-14.〕 This meant that the engine could only activate the braking power of the first three coaches.〔 The ''Federal Express'' departed New York City at 4:38 A.M. It made its regularly scheduled stops at Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore, Maryland. No braking trouble was reported at these stops. It departed Baltimore at 7:50 A.M.〔 Baltimore was the train's last stop before arriving at Union Station, its final destination. After leaving Baltimore, the train accelerated to , its normal speed. As the train neared Landover, Maryland, engineer Henry W. Brower tried to slow the train for its approach into Washington. But the train slowed to just . Brower activated the emergency brakes,〔 but the train only slowed to .〔 Brower put the engine into reverse, but the electric engine began malfunctioning due to the stress placed on it.〔 Sparks began issuing from the wheels of the engine and first three coaches as they tried to slow the train.〔"A Train Runs Out of Track." ''Life.'' January 26, 1953, p. 42.〕 The ''Federal Express'' now began descending a long section of track on a relatively steep 0.73 percent grade.〔 This caused the train to accelerate. Brower began making the railroad's distress signal on the engine's air horn.〔 In the train yard at Union Station, towerman John Feeney in K Tower set the switches to shunt the ''Federal Express'' onto Track 16. But when the train raced past him at high speed, he telephoned the stationmaster's office. Clerk Ray Klopp picked up the phone. Feeney shouted, "Runaway on Track 16!" Klopp looked up to see the train racing directly toward his office. He shouted, "Run for your lives!" Then he and the other clerks ran out of the office as fast as they could.〔 (They had just 20 seconds to get out of harm's way.)〔Loftus, Joseph A. "Runaway Train Rams Station in Washington, Injuring 41." ''New York Times.'' January 16, 1953.〕 Aboard the train, conductor Thomas J. Murphy ran through the train from end to end, shouting at the passengers to get down as low as they could on the floor or on their seats.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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