The Forest Hills disaster (also called the Forest Ridge disaster and the Bussey Bridge train disaster) was a railroad bridge accident that occurred on March 14, 1887, in the

Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...

section of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts.

Disaster

A morning commuter train, inbound to Boston, was passing over the Bussey Bridge, a

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

, at South Street in the Roslindale neighborhood a half mile from the Forest Hills station, when it suddenly collapsed, sending several cars crashing to the street below. Thirty-eight commuters were killed and another 40 were seriously injured. 1887 Drawing of Collapsed Bridge

The train, made up of nine cars, was traveling over the

Dedham Branch The Dedham Branch was a spur line of the Boston and Providence Railroad (later acquired by the Old Colony Railroad, and then by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad), opened in 1835, which ran from the junction with the main line (now th ...

of the

Boston & Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with a ...

on a sunny Monday morning with about 300 passengers, including several school children. Six miles from Boston, the train crossed over the Bussey Bridge on its approach to the Forest Hills Station. The locomotive and first two cars crossed the bridge and then suddenly, without any warning, the bridge fell, taking the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cars with it. The shock of the collapse was so quick and forceful that the body of one of the cars fell and its roof tore off completely and landed on the embankment beyond the bridge. The disaster shocked the entire nation, especially the suffering of the injured, some of whom were transfixed by splinters throughout their bodies and others dismembered and yet others badly mangled. The first body that rescuers pulled from the wreck was that of a headless woman. Two young men were pinned under a pile of rubble with a car stove full of glowing coals hanging over them. Fortunately, the doors of the stove stayed closed and the bolts held firmly and they were rescued.

Investigation

An investigation found that the iron bridge design was poor; it was not strong enough to carry the load of traffic it had to serve. Its designer, Edmund Hewins, was exposed as a fraud. Investigators found that the railroad had also failed to inspect and properly maintain the bridge, even though nuts and bolts were discovered which had fallen from the bridge and were lying on the street below.

References

External links

Bussey Bridge Wreck, 1887
- Celebrate Boston {{DEFAULTSORT:Forest Hills Disaster Railway accidents in 1887 Railway accidents and incidents in Massachusetts Bridge disasters in the United States Bridge disasters caused by engineering error Bridge disasters caused by maintenance error MBTA Commuter Rail 19th century in Boston 1887 in Massachusetts Accidents and incidents involving Boston and Providence Railroad March 1887 events Disasters in Boston