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Accident Data

Baglet Southern Pacific Rail Road Baglet Utah, USA - (31/12/1944) It was a foggy night along the Great Salt Lakes on this New Year's Eve. Like many trains in wartime, the Pacific Limited was full that night and additional carriages were added to accommodate all who wished to travel. Because of its length, the train was travelling in two sections. The first part, which included two army, hospital cars in its complement of carriages was following a freight train which was having trouble because of a hot axle box. The Limited had therefore come almost to a halt. The line was double-tracked and controlled by automatic signals. This notwithstanding, the flagman on the passenger train put down detonators and lit a flare to protect the train. The second part of the train consisted of 20 carriages and was travelling at about 65 mph. It hurtled through the fog and passed one danger signal without slowing. But for a shouted warning from the fireman, the driver may have ignored a second. A brake application came too late. Indeed, it was made just twelve seconds before the train burst out of the fog and into the rear of the first portion of the limited. Fifty people were killed. It is possible that the driver of the second part of the Pacific Limited might have missed the signal due to the fog. But he was an experienced man of 64 years of age. Another explanation might be that he had been taken ill earlier that night. He was found to have died after applying the brakes, not from any injuries, but possibly from a heart attack. The fireman noticed that he was slow to respond to his shouted warning. WRAD: Copyright © D A Fry 1998

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