The Doodlebug disaster was a railway accident that occurred on July 31, 1940, in

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 51,114 at the 2020 census. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb in the Akron metropolitan ar ...

, in the United States. A

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

-powered " doodlebug" passenger rail car collided head-on with a

freight train A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...

; the impact and resulting fire caused the deaths of all but three of the 46 onboard.

Trains

The "doodlebug" concerned, No. 4648, a PRR class GEW275, was a self-propelled, gas-electric rail car that used gasoline to generate electricity to power its

traction motors A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, or electric multiple unit trains. Traction motors are used in electrically powered railway vehicles (electric multiple u ...

; it was one of 6 built in 1928 by Pullman/ Electro-Motive.

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

br>Investigation No.2440
, via

Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United States Department of Transportation, is a government office that compiles, analyzes, and publishes information on the nation's transportation systems across various modes; and str ...

ROSAP. It had departed

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...

at 5:49 pm on its usual run south to

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

on a warm summer evening with 46 people aboard.Lafayette Letters
At the same time, a freight train composed of two Pennsylvania Railroad I1SA

2-10-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement was of ...

locomotives and 73 freight cars was traveling from Columbus to

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

departed Arlington in Akron heading north.''Piqua Daily Call''
, Ohio August 1, 1940

Collision

Within 10 minutes, both had met with disaster; the doodlebug should have pulled into a siding at Silver Lake to allow the freight to pass through the

single-track railway A single-track railway is a railway where trains traveling in both directions share the same track. Single track is usually found on lesser-used rail lines, often branch lines, where the level of traffic is not high enough to justify the c ...

section at that point, but instead, it continued southward. Although both trains braked, their combined speed was when they collided at 5:58 pm. The engineer, conductor, and a railroad employee managed to jump free, though they were badly injured; no one else on the doodlebug survived. As the lead freight engine telescoped into the railcar, the doodlebug's gasoline tank ruptured and sprayed the interior of the coach with burning fuel,http://mreddoodlebug.blogspot.com/ The Doodlebug Tragedy as the doodlebug was pushed over up the track by the momentum of the heavy freight train (which remained on the track); "flames shooting out 25 feet" .6 min all directions. The medical examiner determined that only nine passengers were killed on impact, the rest were burned to death. Firemen fought the blaze for 45 minutes, but several hours were needed before the bodies could be removed; most required saws to separate them from the seats to which they had been fused by the flames. Ambulances soon gathered at the scene, but only the three railroad employees needed to be taken to a hospital; instead, they took the charred bodies to funeral homes.

Investigation

The doodlebug engineman survived and was able to recall receiving orders at Hudson to take the siding at Silver Lake, but he was unable to recall passing the siding. The investigation considered the possibility that the engineer could have been "under the influence of

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

with a resultant temporary impairment of mental faculties, but not be wholly unconscious", which would explain his behavior. The driver had complained of fumes in the cabs on previous occasions. No charges were held against him.

Memorial

In 2005, a memorial monument was built near the site of the disaster on its 65th anniversary. The memorial was the result of a school project by three 13-year-olds at Sill Middle School, which led a fundraising campaign to establish a permanent memorial to those killed in the disaster.

References

External links

The Doodlebug Disaster Collection
{{1940 railway accidents Railway accidents in 1940 Railway accidents and incidents in Ohio 1940 in Ohio Accidents and incidents involving Pennsylvania Railroad Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 1940 disasters in the United States July 1940 in the United States