Crashing trains into each other for fun and profit!
I think we're really spoiled with the internet today. You can search up absolutely anything you want and probably see it in high-definition video. At the turn of the 20th century, if you wanted to see two trains crash into each other, well by golly, you had to do it yourself!
A little oddly specific? Well, crashing trains into each other on purpose became a weirdly popular pastime (I know, I thought that word had two Ts as well) right around 1895. The first staging happened on the Katy Railroad (Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, hence 'K.T.'). The rapidly-expanding railroad had too many old steam locomotives, so they listened to an absolute madman by the apt name of William George Crush on what should be done with the excess.
In 1895 a salesman, A.L. Streeter, had created a wreck, and Crush was inspired by the turnout. So Crush made it his life's work to smash locomotives into each other. The first event was dubbed "The Crash at Crush" and it became the biggest event of the year in an empty place of Texas that would earn the name Crush.
Four entirely new miles of rail were laid for the trains, Ringling Brothers set up a circus tend, a special train depot built, two telegraph offices added, and an entire carnival sprang into being. Some 40,000 people showed up, most arriving by an expensive Katy Railroad ticket.
Okay, so how about safety? Engineers were certain it would be safe, because the locomotives' engines were designed to not explode. Still, the public would be kept 600 feet away. Journalists could be 300 feet away. They're debris-resistant, I guess. Well, the distance restriction didn't work: The crowd shoved its way closer regardless.
The trains' engineers and crews started the locomotives moving, setting them to a high speed and then leaping off the moving train. The trains got to about 45 mph before hitting each other.
Remember those non-exploding boilers? They exploded. Debris shot into the crowd, killing two and injuring many more. Everyone seemed to have had a great time anyways. Crush was immediately fired from the Katy Railroad, though.
Did I say fired? Katy saw how much publicity the crash made for them when the morning papers came out and hired him back the next day. Crush had started a trend and for the next 35 years, hundreds of locomotives would be destroyed in huge arranged events. It wouldn't be until the Great Depression that sense finally caught up to these people.
ellievsbear
areudirty
janainaart
annaxmalina
tangentwithtanner
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
snowghoul
prguitarman
romaincrisis
