For a few terrifying moments on the Lake Shore tracks, it looked as if a passenger train was about to plunge into disaster.
The westbound Pere Marquette No. 55 was moving too fast to stop when it came upon an observation car standing near the block signal at Gary. Brakes strained, passengers were jolted from their seats, and the fast train slammed into the rear of the light engine and car.
Only quick thinking prevented the accident from becoming far worse.
As the crash became unavoidable, the engineer of the observation car threw on a full head of steam, getting the car in motion just before impact and softening the blow. Without that split-second decision, the train might have derailed and rolled down the 30-foot embankment below.
Serious Accident Narrowly Averted
What appeared for a moment to be a certain wreck occurred on the Lake Shore tracks at 3:48 yesterday when the Westbound Pere Marquette No. 55 crashed into the observation car of Division Superintendent F.A. Wilson of the Lake Shore Road.
With the brakes applied, the fast passenger struck the light engine and car going at the rate of 30 miles an hour, tearing off the pilot of the engine, and considerable shaking up of the passengers.
Engineer’s Presence of Mind
It seemed as if the presence of mind alone of the engineer of the observation car in putting on a full head of steam when he saw that the crash was inevitable, saved a serious wreck. His engine was also headed westward as it stood on the track and by putting on steam he had the car well in motion before it was struck, thereby greatly neutralizing the shock. If the impact had been more severe it might have caused a derailment, and the passenger train would have rolled down the 30-foot embankment onto the street at Broadway.
Causes Much Excitement
The accident caused no end of excitement and as soon as the regular train on the Lake Shore pulled in from Chicago with its hundreds of passengers aboard the train, they gathered around to see where a serious wreck had been narrowly averted.
The Pere Marquette was delayed for 30 minutes, during which time the pilot was displaced from the engine and rolled down the embankment.
The cause of the crash seems to be that the observation car was stopped too near the block signal, so that when the fast Pere Marquette train, which does not stop at Gary, saw the block, they did not have sufficient time to bring the train to a standstill before they hit the car.
At the time that the two came in contact, the brakes were being strained on the passenger to bring it to a standstill, but the distance was too short. When the brakes were suddenly applied, the passengers were partly thrown from their seats but none of them were seriously shocked, as far as could be learned. It was said that the windows of the passenger train were also broken, but this report was denied by the officials of the road.
No Damage to Car
There was no damage to the observation car, the part that was hit being of steel. The only bad results of an accident that might have meant the loss of several lives as well as a great deal of property, resulted only in a property loss of about $50, the delay of the train for 30 minutes and several bad scares.
The observation car is the one used by the division superintendent, Wilson, in his regular inspection trips on this section of the line. His visit to this city had no special import.
Source: The Lake County Times. Hammond, Ind. July 29, 1908.
