Paoli, PA Train Wreck, Sept 1905

FLYER SMASHES INTO LOCAL

Five Persons Killed in a Railway Collision at Paoli, Pa.

ALL FATALITIES IN PRIVATE CAR.

Misplaced Switch Causes P. R. R. Wreck Near Philadelphia – New York Limited Express From St. Louis Plunges Into Train at Station – Prominent Employee of the Railroad Killed and Hurt.

Philadelphia, Pa. -- Five men were killed and more than twenty injured in a collision at 2:45 o'clock p. m., between the New York Limited, from the West, and a local passenger train at Paoli, on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, nineteen miles out of Philadelphia.

The limited ran through an open switch and plunged into a siding on which stood the local. The last coach of the local, was a special car belonging to W. W. ATTERBURY, general manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was new and was being tested. In it were some friends of MR. ATTERBURY and a number of employes[sic] of the road.

The only damage to the limited was a broken pilot and some broken windows. The local train was smashed.

The dead are: F. A. BRASTOW, Haverford, Pa., brother-in-law of General Manager ATTERBURY; G. S. WALTON, Altoona, Pa., steam heat inspector; G. N. PENNYPACKER, Philadelphia, foreman of car inspectors; CHARLES DUNBOUR, shopman; R. T. CARLAND, manager at the West Philadelphia car shops.

Among the injured are: NOBLE REDMAN, thigh fractured; ARTHUR REDMOND, leg broken;l RICHARD COOK, collarbone broken; STEPHEN MacCOTLA, conductor of local train, broken arm; D. N. PERRINE, master mechanic, broken bones and internal injuries.

All those who met death were in the private car of General Manager ATTERBURY, which was attached to the rear of the local train. MR. ATTERBURY is on his vacation in Maine. He is expected to return soon, and his car had been overhauled preparatory to sending to Maine to bring him home. It was sent out in the forenoon for a test run, and was attached to a late afternoon local train from Paoli for this city. In the car at the time of the collision were about a dozen who had been engaged in overhauling the car. Those who were not killed were injured.

Paoli is the terminus of the Pennsylvania Railroad's suburban traffic on the main line, and a large yard is located there for the storage of cars and engines. The local train was made up in the yard on the north side of the railroad and switched across to the east-bound track No. 1 on the south side, and came to a stop at the station. Before the switches could be set the limited came along at moderate speed on the No. 2 east-bound track, took the cross-over switch and crashed into the local.
The force of the collision was so great the engine of the limited plowed ten feet into the private car, and the latter was forced half way through the day coach ahead.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1905-09-29
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!