"Hello there viewers...Keiko here again...*I proceed to say this while traditionally bowing to the viewers as usual. To which I then proceed to bring my attention and eyesight back up again, in order to continue to address the viewers. I also now proceed to clear my throat, as I then proceed to continue, to properly address the viewers*...
Now then viewers, it is now finally time to have another non action filler chapter...and for this one viewers, we will be taking a short break from covering air disasters...as for this particular non action packed filler chapters, we will only be covering rail accidents...
More specifically viewers, we will be covering a total of three separate rail accidents in this chapter...
And we will start, with the first one...and for this one, we will be going a bit back in time, quite a ways back actually...back all the way in fact, to March 3, 1944...Yes viewers, that is how far we are going back for this first one...as on this particular date in question...freight train 8017...sometimes referred to as 'The Black Market Express'...Was a double headed steam hauled freight...that at the time of the disaster, was on its way from Naples in Italy, over to Potenza...
The train, consisted of two double headed 2-10-0 steam locomotives...or what are commonly referred to over in the United Kingdom, as Standard 9Fs...or Decapods, over in the states...
And though these particular two engines weren't, they did in fact still have the same number of coupled driving wheels...But anyway viewers, these two 2-10-0s were hauling 47 freight wagons...Yet despite the 8017 not being a passenger train...The reason why it was sometimes referred to, as 'The Black Market Express,' was due in part to it commonly carrying a lot of unpaid passengers on board in the numerous freight wagons...
And at the time, the 8017, was carrying as much as 600 passengers and crew on board, as the train pulled out of Balvano station, it was grossly overloaded...
As it was estimated, that the weight was somewhere in the range of at least 520 tons...or way too heavy for both of the trains two engines to safely traverse one of the lines longest tunnels, the 'Galleria dele Armi'...
And unfortunately, as it was somewhat damp on the day of the disaster, and as the train proceeded into the Galleria dele Armi,' the wheels of the two engines wound up wheel spinning violently...
And, to make matters worse, as both engines were coal fired, and the tunnel in which the train had stalled, lacked proper ventilation ducts...the drivers of both engines, ordered more coal to be shoveled into the fireboxes of both engines, unaware, that the coal...Because it was a lower grade coal from what is now former Yugoslavia, it wound up not being sufficient enough, for either of the engines to gain enough traction...
And tragically, after only a couple of minutes, most of the passengers and crew of the 8017, wound up succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning...
And out of the 600 passengers and crew on board the 8017...only a handful survived...as the official death toll from this accident, was 517 people...Which makes this accident, The Balvano Train Disaster, the worst rail accident in the history of Italy...And, one of the worst rail disasters of all time...
Now then viewers, we will now be proceeding onto the next rail accident in this particular chapter...and for this one, we will be going a bit forward in time from the incident at Balvano...all the way forward, to September 6, 1943...and on this particular day, Pennsylvania Railroad train #152, 'The Congressional Limited,' was on route from Washington D.C to New York's Pennsylvania Station...
And at the time of the accident, train #152 was carrying roughly 541 passengers in 16 carriages...hauled by GG1 Class Electric #4930...
And tragically, as the train passed a rail yard signal box in North Philadelphia...a journal bearing on coach #1860, or the seventh car in the 16 car rake of carriages, wound up seizing due to lack of grease in the journal bearing...
Which in turn wound up causing the axle to snap...and as train #152 was traveling at around 56 miles per hour...or roughly 90 kilometers an hour...the resulting snapping of one the seventh cars lead axles, caused the car to be catapulted up and forward into the air...slamming hard against a signal gantry, and shearing the top of the car off...the obstructing car, then caused the remaining carriages behind it, to concertina into one another...
In total, 79 were killed in the accident at Frankford Junction...and a further 117 others were injured...
And now viewers, we will be proceeding onto what will be the third and final rail accident for this chapter...
And for this one, we will be going a little bit more forward in time, to February 6, 1951...to a rail accident, that had been slowly fading into the pages of history...
Well that is, until now...
As on the date in question...Pennsylvania Train #733...nicknamed 'The Broker Special,' was a bit longer then it usually was...as due to an ongoing rail strike a the time, 'The Broker Special,' was a little over twice the length it usually was...as the train, consisting of Pennsylvania Railroad K4 Pacific Class Steam Locomotive #2445...was hauling an 11 carriage train...with roughly 1,000 people on board...
Joseph Fitzsimmons was the Engineer at the controls of #2445 that day...and his Fireman, or the Stoker, was one Albert "Paddy' Dunn...
And at the time of the accident, due to construction just outside of Woodbridge station...a mandatory speed restriction required The Broker, to slow down to at least 25 miles per hour, in order to safely negotiate a slight and temporary s-curve in the track...
Which had been constructed, to make way for the new highway, that was being constructed at the time...
And, though the conductor of The Broker at the time, one John Bishop, had reminded Fitzsimmons about the mandatory 25 mile an hour speed restriction outside of Woodbridge station...
Because the line just outside of Woodbridge was on a slight hill...The Broker was traveling at at least 50 mile an hour when it approached the 25 mile an hour speed restriction...
And to Fitzsimmons credit, though he did close the reg, and then immediately hit the emergency brakes...
By the time this had been done, the train had already entered the second curve in the s-curve, and the resulting twisting force wound up causing #2445s tender to derail, and thus, wound up taking the engine and most of the rake of carriages with it down the embankment...
In total, 85 people were killed, including Fireman Dunn...as he was thrown from #2445 after it had violently overturned...
And to this day, The Wreck Of The Broker, is the worst rail disaster in the history of New Jersey, and was the worst rail accident, since The Great Train Wreck Of 1918...
And this viewers, now marks the end of this particular chapter...But the good news viewers, is that we will be getting back into the action in the next chapter...
So viewers, see you lot there, okay?...*I proceed to say this, while also smiling with both of my eyes closed, and my head tilted to one side, in a very cute looking manner*"