Erie's History and Memorabilia

On a Thursday morning, on the 5th of October 1950, a speeding New York Central streamliner wrecked in a terrific explosion and fire, but its 153 dozing passengers miraculously escaped death. More than 40 persons were injured, none seriously. The New England States Express , cruising through Erie at more than a mile a minute, sliced into an oil tank car that popped out of a passing freight train. The tanker erupted in a blast that shook downtown Erie. Huge flames licked around the Express stainless steel coaches as 11 of them zig-zagged to a grinding halt crosswise on the tracks. Only one car — a dormitory for dining car employees — caught fire. One coach carrying 50 passengers turned over on its side. The 75-car freight piled up on a parallel track. A disaster call went out. Within minutes some 20 doctors, 50 firemen and a like number of policemen were at the scene. Together with hundreds of passersby and railroad employees the rescue crews worked feverishly to free p...

On a Thursday morning, in October 20th of 1920, eight persons, six of them women, were killed, and nineteen others injured when a car of the Cleveland-Buffalo express , eastbound, left the track and sideswiped the second Pullman car of the New York-Chicago express , westbound, of the New York Central railroad just west of the Union Depot, on the morning of the 20th. As the New York Central train, No. 60, the eastbound express, was coasting into the station, the westbound express was pulling out. Suddenly one of the cars of the eastbound train was seen to leave the rail and crash into the side of the car in the westbound train. The heavy steel sides of the Pullman were torn away and the car thrown over on its side. Immediately, clouds of steam and dust arose and the passengers in the car were thrown into a heap as the car settled its open side pointing upward. As quickly as the dust settled, police and firemen, from their headquarters a block away, were using ladder in ...