Dual of Iron Monsters: Exhibition of Train Collisions
The dual battle that the Kansas Texas Railroad, Missouri, organized in 1896, was a little different. Instead of people, they arrange a duel for the steam train to jump towards each other. It would not have been easy for any company to carry out such a deadly and destructive plan in this age. However, the rules, laws, and people’s ideas of 1896, 126 years ago, differed. And that’s probably why the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad Company, nicknamed Katie, was able to take such a startling business approach.
After the Great Depression of 1893, many railway companies were in danger of going bankrupt. That’s why big companies are looking for new ways to keep their business afloat. The Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad Company, which earned 1.2 million in 1895 from passenger transport and another 3 million from freight, was also looking for ways to make its organization more popular. At that time, General Passenger Agent William George Crush appeared before the board members with this wonderful plan of fighting between two trains.
Such plans were not entirely new at the time. A year before the crash, AL Streeters, a railway equipment seller in Ohio, came up with such an idea — one that caught everyone’s eye. The casualties were minimal, and only one person was reported injured. But inspired by the amount of publicity the news received, Crush presented his plans to the Texas Railroad Company on a large scale.
According to the original plan, Crush wanted two steam-powered trains to collide with each other at full speed from a certain distance. Ordinary people will be invited to see this face-to-face confrontation of machine monsters. They will enjoy this awesome dual of two trains from a certain distance. Ticket money will be taken from them in return. At the same time, the amount of news that will be published in the newspapers for such an unimaginable initiative will be a huge publicity for the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad Company.
Although the board members were satisfied with the crash plan, their railway engineers were called to find out what kind of accident could happen in a head-on collision between two trains. When asked about this, all the engineers except one said that there is no possibility of a major accident in such a collision. Just let an engineer know – there is a possibility of an accident like boiler rupture resulting from such an incident. But ignoring her decision, Katie’s board members agreed to arrange a confrontation between the two trains.
A hill station on three sides north of the town of Waco in Texas was first selected for the exhibition. This place, 15 kilometers from Waco, was still empty. Crush and a group of workers began building a temporary town there a few weeks before the original exhibition. Work began in earnest on a four-mile separate railway line to connect the main line to the temporary city. At the same time, the campaign of this iron giant train war started. News spread around the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. Handbills, leaflets, newspaper advertisements; The propaganda of this wonderful event is going on all through.
The makeshift city of Crush began to form insight. Two wells were dug and water lines were laid to meet the water needs of the visitors coming to the hot desert. People were hired from Dallas to run dozens of lemonade stands. A restaurant was built there in a short time to meet the food demand of the visitors. In addition to the grandstand, three speaker stands, a platform for journalists, two telegraph offices and a special train depot, a wooden prison was built in the town of Crush to assist law enforcement. In addition to train fights, carnivals are also arranged to entertain the spectators.
However, William Crush himself was responsible for assembling the locomotive that surrounded the main train. He traveled around the country and procured two locomotives of his choice. Due to the growing popularity of the newly launched 60-ton locomotive at that time, Crush selected two 35 ton locomotives that had retired. Engine No. 999 and 1001 are painted in special colors for display. The red line is drawn on the green in 999 and the green line was drawn on the red in 1001. Six box-cars or bogies are attached to each of the two engines to make them look like a full-fledged train.
The audience started responding to this incident. Katie Rail Company also resorted to a fancy approach in this regard. Without announcing a separate ticket for the exhibition, they announced spending $2 on their train. If anyone traveled on a round trip, they would not have to pay a separate fee to enter this special exhibition. The organizers thought that maybe 20 to 25 thousand spectators would come to see this event. But their advertising was so strong that 40,000 visitors to the show in the end!
However, there is a difference of opinion about the overflowing audience. However, they do the rest of the work well before the exhibition. There was no arrangement for the spectators to go within 180 meters of the railway track. However, the organizers allowed journalists and press members to enter within 100 yards. Visitors began arriving in the makeshift town of Crush on the festival day in 30 special trains. By 10:00 am on September 15, 1896, about 10,000 visitors had arrived at the newly built town of Crush. Although the train was announced at 4 pm, it was delayed by an hour, keeping in mind the audience.
Finally, at 5.10 pm, Crush Ellen, wearing a huge hat on his head, rode on horseback, blowing dust, just like a cowboy ready for a duel. At his direction, the drivers and conductors of the two engines started the two trains. In the fading sun of the afternoon, two giant steam-powered trains started moving towards each other for the oncoming battle.
The engineers, however, had earlier calculated the exact speed at which the two trains would collide head-on. In the same way, before the train’s speed reached 10 miles per hour, the drivers and crew of the two trains managed to jump from the locomotive to a safe distance. The two trains started moving towards each other like unbridled horses. Steam engines collided with each other at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour without gurgling black smoke. That outstanding moment was captured on camera by many journalists.
Except for a few chaoses, everything has gone according to the organizers’ plan so far. But the danger that was feared from the very beginning and which a railway engineer had warned everyone about happened. As a result of the collision, the metal boiler of the two steam engines exploded and splashed around like a bomb sprinter. Explosive metal fractions (Shrapnel) hit directly at unprotected spectators and journalists. According to various sources, at least two people died in the accident, and a photographer from Waco lost his sight.
Everyone was stunned for a few moments by the suddenness of the incident, but after a while, extreme chaos started. During so much hustle and bustle, some spectators did not flee to a safe distance but jumped to collect souvenirs from the wreckage of the smoked train. Countless people burned their hands and feet as they touched the scorching heat.
Explosions, human casualties and so many irregularities caused the sky to fall on the head of the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. William George Crush was immediately expelled. The journalist who lost his eyesight to handle the incident was given compensation of 10 thousand dollars at that time and was allowed to travel on the free train for life. They managed to handle all the other incidents wisely. The fate of the people is not what they feared, but the opposite happened to them.
The general public began to spread the news of this huge explosion and the exhibition all around. One report after another started to be published in the newspapers. The company started to increase the amount of business profit. Seeing the improvement in the situation, the authorities brought Crush back to his work. This is the end of the famous, wonderful exhibition of rail collisions in history.