Roughly 40,000 people showed up to see the MKT railroad’s scheduled train wreck in the impromptu ‘town’ of Crush, Texas.
The two engines that faced off pulled 6 cars, each car covered in advertisements (mo’ money!). There was a line of cable that was pulled tight to each side of the railroad track to keep people a ‘safe’ distance from the crash. A single photographer was allowed up a scaffolding to photograph the event. Thomas Edison sent a man from New York in an attempt to film the event with a kinetoscope. (The film has never surfaced or been identified. Although photographs from the event exist and you are looking at one of them. This is before the trains backed up – you can see a few of the large banner-type ads on the cars.)
After dramatically and slowly rolling the steam engines toward each other for a ‘kiss’ of the cattle catchers, the conductors backed the trains up to opposite ends of the 4 mile long track. The conductors then got the trains going to top speed and quickly hopped off to safety. The trains were traveling roughly 45 miles an hour when they slammed in to each other.
While waiting with bated breath, book a tour.
Image of the pre-crash ‘kissing’ trains courtesy of Lone Star Junction. Photos of the trains that day and of the crash are at Baylor University in their John Oscar “Swede” Johnson collection. They appear to be postcards or commemorative cards with frames and printed captions.
