The Custer Creek train wreck (sometimes called the Saugus train wreck) is the worst rail disaster in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
history. It occurred on June 19, 1938 when a bridge, its foundations washed away by a flash flood, collapsed beneath
Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
's ''
Olympian'' as it crossed Custer Creek, near
Saugus, Montana
Saugus is a rural unincorporated community in Prairie County, Montana, United States, along the Yellowstone River. It was the location of the Custer Creek train wreck.
Saugus was once one of the biggest cattle and horse shipping points in easter ...
, south-west of
Terry
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albrit ...
, killing at least 47 people.
Bridge AA-438
The bridge, number AA-438, was long and had been constructed in 1913. It consisted of two
plate girder spans and five reinforced concrete
trestle slab spans carrying the single track across the creek resting on concrete piers. An inspection of the bridge earlier that year had concluded the bridge was in good condition with sufficient
rip-rap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...
in place to prevent
scouring.
[ ICC Investigation No.2278]
Custer Creek
Custer Creek itself normally runs dry for nine months of the year and had never been known to rise to a depth of more than . But on the night in question a
cloudburst
A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. Cloudbursts can quickly dump large amounts of water, e.g. 25 mm of prec ...
deposited an estimated of rain on the area drained by the creek.
[ Milwaukee Road Historical Association] The previous train had crossed the bridge at 10:15 p.m. at which point the engineer estimated the water to be about deep. Twenty minutes later, in view of the heavy rainfall experienced the section foreman performed an inspection of the track and estimated the depth of water to be beneath the level of the girders of the bridge (i.e. around deep), giving no indication of the trouble to come.
[
]
''Olympian''
The westbound ''Olympian'' that night was hauled by Class S-2 4-8-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...
No.220 and comprised eleven cars. It was traveling from Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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to Tacoma and carrying 155 passengers when it neared Custer Creek at a speed of 50 mph. There was no water on the track to warn the engineer that beneath was a torrent of water high, battering at the bridge foundations, and no brake application was made.
Wreck
As the ''Olympian'' crossed at 12:35 a.m. the bridge collapsed; the engine and seven passenger cars were thrown into the swollen creek[ On the west bank the locomotive and five cars were "piled in a shambles of crumpled steel",] killing the engineer and fireman. The wreck happened so quickly that when the body of the engineer was recovered he was still sitting in his seat with his hand on the throttle. "Two other cars ended up deep in the roaring creek". Rescue efforts were mounted by the train crew and uninjured passengers; smashing windows on the partly submerged cars to provide escape routes.[''Railroad Wrecks'' by Edgar A. Haine, p106-7, publ 1993, ] Although the official death toll stands at 47,[ this is an estimate as several bodies were swept into the ]Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...
,[ one body being recovered at ]Glendive
Glendive is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Montana, United States, and home to Dawson Community College. Glendive was established by the Northern Pacific Railway when they built the transcontinental railroad across the northern ...
downstream.
''The Billings Gazette'', Montana June 23, 1938 75 people were injured. Newspapers reported the paradox that modern air-conditioned rolling stock requiring sealed windows, and the use of shatterproof glass was partially responsible for some deaths[
]
Investigation
The investigation determined that the volume and velocity of water flowing beneath the bridge that night was "much in excess of any that had been experienced before or might be anticipated at this place". The bridge structure was still intact when the train reached it but two of the central piers had been undermined. The weight of the locomotive caused the piers to subside and the bridge to collapse.[
]
References
External links
Custer Creek, MT Washout Of Trestle Causes Wreck, June 1938
ICC Investigation No.2278
British Pathe newsreel
{{coord, 46, 42, 01, N, 105, 29, 10, W, , display=title
Railway accidents in 1938
Railway accidents and incidents in Montana
1938 in Montana
Bridge disasters in the United States
Bridge disasters caused by scour damage
Prairie County, Montana
Accidents and incidents involving Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
June 1938 events