The Downers Grove train wreck happened on April 3, 1947, at the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

station in

Downers Grove Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I-55. ...

, Illinois. The ''

Twin Cities Zephyr The ''Twin Zephyrs'', also known as the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'', were a pair of streamlined passenger trains on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), running between Chicago and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minne ...

'', a high-speed inter-city passenger train, struck a tractor that had fallen from a freight train only seconds before. Three died and over thirty were injured in the wreck. The ''Twin Cities Zephyr'' had left

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

at 5:10 PM with

EMD E5 The EMD E5 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois, and produced exclusively for the Chi ...

#9914A pulling a seven car trainset called "The Train of the Goddesses". The train carried many college students and others traveling for the coming

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

weekend and was due at Chicago's

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

at midnight. At 10:41 PM, approaching the Downers Grove station at about , the eastbound ''Zephyr'' struck a heavy caterpillar-type tractor which had just fallen off a westbound freight train. The engineer, who later died from his injuries, told rescuers that he saw the tractor fall and immediately applied the brakes. At impact the locomotive went airborne, broke away from the trainset, landed on its side, skidded through the station, and caught fire. The first two cars jack-knifed into an empty office and waiting room of the brick masonry station building, which by chance had been closed early for the night. The freight train had just cleared the scene when all three tracks running through the depot were torn up.Zephyr Wreck of 1947"
(newspaper articles, mostly from the ''Downers Grove Reporter'' in April 1947, along with photos and recollections) retrieved September 16, 2010 The response was fast. A signalman from the nearby tower went east and used flares to stop a westbound freight while a brakeman from the Zephyr climbed out a window after the crash and went west to flag a following local passenger train. The fire department, police, and townspeople (along with a

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

troop) quickly began giving aid. Police from nearby towns also came to help, along with state police. After being given

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

at a doctor's office across from the station or in the lobby of the Tivoli Theatre, the injured were taken to the Hinsdale Hospital or Copley Memorial Hospital in

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

. Two died and more than 30 were injured, the train's engineer died three days later. Unlike the

Naperville train disaster The Naperville train disaster occurred April 25, 1946, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad at Loomis Street in Naperville, Illinois, when the railroad's ''Exposition Flyer'' rammed into the ''Advance Flyer'', which had made an unschedul ...

less than a year earlier, there was no question of wrongdoing at the scene. On May 8, 1947, a

DuPage County DuPage County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat is ...

Coroner's jury found that

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

(the shipper) and the Burlington were negligent in loading and inspecting the tractor.

Notes

References

{{1947 railway accidents Accidents and incidents involving Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Derailments in the United States Railway accidents and incidents in Illinois Railway accidents in 1947 Downers Grove, Illinois 1947 in Illinois April 1947 events in the United States