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| Tuscarora Alamanac - February 4, 1977 - The Book of Wrecks (Midwest Division) (310234) | |||
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Tuscarora Alamanac - February 4, 1977 - The Book of Wrecks (Midwest Division) |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Thu Feb 4 09:46:47 2016 Tuscarora Almanac - February 4, 1977 - The Book of Wrecks (Midwest Division) The following article was written by Mr. Peter Erhich (Milantram) On this date in 1977, the first three cars of an 8-car Chicago "L" train fell off the Loop L at the intersection of Lake and Wabash, when it rear-ended another train that was stopped, waiting to get into State/Lake Station. The accident happened during the height of the evening rush hour. The 8-car train was assigned to the Lake/Dan Ryan line, and was to head out Lake Street to Oak Park. The train that was struck was a Ravenswood Line train, following an Evanston Express. Normally, the Evanston train would use the clockwise (inner) loop, but because of switching problems was operating counterclockwise around the Loop. Eleven people were killed and 180 injured in what was considered the worst "L" accident to date. Allegedly the motorman of the Lake/Dan Ryan train ignored a restrictive automatic cab signal--or there was a false indication--and was traveling at 15mph when his train hit the Ravenswood train. Apparently, this was a newly-installed cab signal system, and there had been problems with "ghost signals"--indications that there was a train ahead, when there wasn't. But the warning buzzer and restrictive speed cab signal indication had gone off in the motorman's cab while he was at Randolph/Wabash Station. Cars 2289/90 (Budd) and 2043/44 (Pullman-Standard) were so badly damaged that they were ultimately scrapped. Three of these four cars toppled into the street. The fourth car was teetering over the edge of the structure, but didn't fall. The four trailing cars sustained little or no damage. The accident led to a change in CTA rules, whereby a motorman encountering a false red signal must call Control Center for permission to proceed, at a speed of no more than 10mph. Source: The website www.chicago-L.org, the Chicago Tribune, and other sources. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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