On December 12, 1917 a troop train carrying 1000 soldiers’ home for Christmas ran out of control down a steep hill. Although the initial cause of the accident was extreme speed, this was due to inapt loading on the locomotive and the neglect from higher authority figures despite an engineer’s concern. This was during WWI where there was a shortage of locomotives to transport soldiers and supplies across Europe. The train was on course to Chambéry station from Modane station in Northern Italy. The railroad after leaving Modane lead through the Alps into a valley. After the train started to descend, the driver applied the brakes which had no effect due the train being overloaded. The train reached high speeds causing it to derail, crash, and …show more content…
This meant that there was only one available to transport the 1,000 soldiers. It was decided to combine and operate the two trains as one, coupling them together and putting them in the charge of a single 4-6-0 engine. This resulted in the train consisting of 19 coaches, much more than a one locomotive could handle at the time. Normally, it should only have been allowed to pull trains of about one quarter of the weight of this troop train. Of these coaches the first three had air brakes and the others consisted of hand-brakes or no brakes at all. This made the train’s ability to stop inadequate, however it still departed even with these safety concerns. The main railroad line crosses the Alps through the Mont Cern tunnel emerging on the French side at Modane station. After passing through, it descended into a valley that became very steep. As the locomotive began the descent, the engineer/operator applied the brakes. However, the train was too heavy and the brakes were able to slow it down. It steadily collected speed as it continued its descent. The brakes became overheated causing fires to break out under the coaches. The train continued for approximately 4 miles (6 km/h) until at an estimated 75 mph (120 km/h) when the first coach became derailed. The rest of the train piled-up against it, causing the wooden coaches immediately catching fire. They burned with such intensity that of the 800 or so who died, only 425 bodies could be
An example of one nursing officer’s experience under fire is from Sister Kelly’s diary from the Casualty Clearing Station at the Western Front....
middle of paper ... ... After I was disposed of, the corporal then made the majority of the 27 sufferers march with the rest of the troops. Most of the men, including an Australian chaplain, died during succeeding weeks, largely as a result of this calculated brutality.’ (Iggulden, 2009, p.22)
Cannons boomed simultaneously in New York and San Francisco at the same moment the golden spike was hammered into the ground, connecting the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad companies at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869 (American 1). North America became the first continent to be connected by railroad from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast when the Transcontinental Railroad was finished (Gale 1). The railroad was an essential component of achieving manifest destiny. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad spurred settlement in the American West, encouraged immigration, and began an economic boom in the United States.
During their western voyage, the group notoriously known as the “Donner Party” inevitably became trapped in a snowstorm in the winter of 1846 and 1847. Originally, the group set out for California in search of new opportunities. Figure 1 shows the path that the party followed to arrive in their set destination. After departing from Springfield, Illinois, the Donner’s first stop was in Independence, Missouri where they joined the rest of their traveling companions. The party had then planned on arriving at Fort Bridger to join another expedition, but they were too late and the expedition left without them (Johnson, 1). They left from Fort Bridger on July 31, 1846 using their own navigation skills in hopes of landing at their destination (Diamond, 2). When an unfortunate snowstorm hit, the group was left stranded. To make matters worse, they were split up between Truckee Lake and Alder Creek. They struggled during this time for they had few supplies and a limited food source. Of the 81 person party, only 45 survived the horrendous conditions (Johnson, 1). That number of casualties may seem fairly typical based on the condit...
Moreover, the trip in the train gives an example of the loss of the humanity. In the train, a
In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.
January 12, 1888, a blizzard covered the northwest part of North America that claimed many lives. This blizzard was considered to be the worst blizzard of all time, and was dubbed the “the Schoolchildren’s Blizzard”, for claiming the lives of so many school children on their way home. The death toll of this murderous blizzard rose, because of lack of preparation and being uninformed. During this time, many farmers and families were unprepared to survive a blizzard of this magnitude, by the lack of clothing they wore. Forecasters were not as accurate enough to inform people on the weather conditions. Also, shelter was a major factor in protecting themselves from the winter storms, but the shelter was not stable
Crichton, Michael. The Great Train Robbery. First Ballantine Books ed. N.p.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Print.
Orphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called "child saver," attempted to curb exploitation of children (The American Promise, 834). One of the people who was obsessed with the plight of children was a man named Charles Brace. He created the NY "Children's Aid Society". This was a program that was best known for "Orphan Trains". In 1853, Brace founded this society to arrange trips, raise the money, and obtain legal permission needed for relocation (the Orphan trains, 1). The reaction to the orphan trains were both positive and negative.
“At 12:42 p.m. the air was perfectly calm for about one minute; the next minute the sky was completely overcast by heavy black clouds which, for a few minutes previous, had hung along the western and northwestern horizon, and the wind veered to the west and blew with such violence as to render the position of the observer on the roof unsafe. The air was immediately filled with snow as fine as sifted flour” (Potter). No one expected the blizzard that would soon come rolling over to create some of the unfortunate deaths. Now, the questions are what exactly happened during the storm, how are snowstorms created, and what damages it caused.
The train comes squealing to a stop at the station. Hundreds of Jews with all the belongings that they can fit into a suitcase with them exit a tightly packed train car. Immediately they are sorted into two groups. One heads into the heart of the camp to start a life of hard labor. The other goes to ‘disinfecting’. They are happy, cheerful, and suspect nothing as they approach the ‘showers’ for disinfecting. After they have rid themselves of their clothes, jewelry, and belongings, they enter the showers and are immediately locked in. They begin to feel suspicious and afraid, but by now, it is far too late for them to do anything. As the small pellets rain down from the roof, the terror builds to an unspeakable level. They try anything they can think of to get out. Screaming, clawing, praying, or pounding, anything goes. Slowly they begin to die. After about twenty minutes, it is all over. Sadly, this was a daily event at many concentration camps during the Holocaust. At Auschwitz, an occurrence such as this happened multiple times every day. Auschwitz was a designated death factory, killing thousands every day. Although there were many concentration camps during the Holocaust, the most notorious camp was Auschwitz.
Implications and Consequences - It takes 3 times the distance of a quarter mile for a train to stop so it is implied that the whistle post at the quarter mile marking is not an effective preventative measure or warning. If the trees had been cleared to provide more visibility prior to the ¼ mile whistle post John would have had a better chance of seeing the train. Extended visibility would have also allowed Lee Thompson to start blowing the whistle and braking sooner. If the crossing had gates a train coming out of a treeline at 60mph at ¼ mile before the crossing wouldn’t be so surprising and John would still be
In minutes, railroad officials rushed up and down the tracks in search of the trunk's owner. Police questioned onlookers. Voices rose across the station, as a frenzied chaos spread.
The Wrights invited us to meet our entire wagon train. We brought the family that we invited, the Conrads, and they were very graciously welcomed into our train. Come to think of this gathering it was more of a meeting than anything else. All we did was introduce ourselves and our families, then we decided on what the order was going to be for this wagon train. We agreed on having Mr. And Mrs. Conrad be the leaders because from what it looked like they had the most mobile family. Coming in second we will have the Wrights, after that we will have us on the third position. The reason we are in third position is because of my pregnant wife and we will have to travel a lot slower and more carefully. There is another family that will be in
In the story the signalman is shown as being powerless to stop the horrible accidents involving the train just like humans are powerless to prevent train crashes from happening.