On the 4th of January, 1987, an Amtrak passenger train was speeding along the east coast bound
for Boston, Massachusetts.
The train was loaded with people trying to get home after the holidays… but it was
a journey that some of them would never see the end of.
Somewhere on the tracks ahead, the actions of two people would cause what was, at the
time, the deadliest accident in Amtrak’s history.
Amtrak, otherwise known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, is the nationwide passenger
train service of the United States.
It was formed in 1971 to take over the non-profitable passenger train services run by private railroad
companies.
The company has continuously provided long-distance travel for millions of Americans each year
ever since.
The Northeast Corridor (or NEC) is one of the busiest rail sectors in the United States,
with thousands of trains running day and night carrying both passengers and freight.
Often, these trains share tracks with one another, but do so without incident.
This is due to the vigilance and care of crews and dispatchers, and also to the many interlocking
signal systems along the lines.
Many different Amtrak services operated in the NEC, including some famous trains that
have been lost to history, such as the Broadway Limited, the Clocker, the Night Owl, and others.
One such train was the Colonial, which ran between Boston, Massachusetts, and Newport
News, Virginia.
Introduced in 1976, the Colonial was considered very modern for the time.
It made use of brand new equipment, including “Amfleet” passenger cars.
These cars used Head-End Power – power from the locomotive – to run heating, lighting
and air conditioning for passenger comfort.
They were a big step up from some older rolling stock, which dated back, in some cases, to
the 1940s.
At 12:30pm on the 4th of January, the Colonial departed Washington DC.
The train had two AEM-7 locomotives up front and 12 passenger cars behind, all but one
of which were Amfleets.
After a stop at Baltimore in Maryland, the train was loaded with 660 passengers, many
of whom were returning home or to school after the holiday season.
Operating the train that day was 35-year-old Engineer Jerome Evans.
He was highly experienced, having started work with the Penn Central Transportation
Company in 1972, before moving to Amtrak in 1983.
As he approached the town of Chase in Maryland, Engineer Evans had the “all clear” to
proceed to the next station, so he maintained his speed.
Just ahead of his train was the Gunpow Interlocking, situated just before the Gunpowder River.
An interlocking is a system of interlocking signals, designed in such a way that the signal
to proceed will only be given if the track ahead is clear.
At the Gunpow Interlocking, the four-track mainline narrowed down to just two tracks
to cross the Gunpowder River.
The tracks were numbered three, two, one, and A. Any north-bound trains approaching
the interlocking on track 1 or track A would be signaled to stop until the other lines
were clear before proceeding.
The Colonial was on track two, and so was not signaled to stop.
As the Colonial approached, a Conrail train consisting of three locomotives and no other
rolling stock was also approaching from the same direction on track one.
The crew on board was Engineer Ricky Gates and Brakeman Edward Cromwell, both of whom
also had many years of prior experience working on the railroads.
Because their train was on track one, it was required to slow down for several “approach”
signals before coming to a stop to allow the Amtrak train to pass by.
However, this did not happen.
Instead, the Conrail train gained speed.
The locomotive’s event recorders indicated the train reached a speed of around 96.5 kilometers
per hour (or 60 miles per hour).
Having passed straight through the “approach” signals, it was only at the final signal which
indicated “danger” that Engineer Gates made an emergency application of the brakes.
It was too late.
The Conrail locomotives rolled through the switch and came to a stop on track two.
On board the Colonial, Engineer Evans spotted the Conrail train ahead of him.
Despite his best effort to apply the emergency brakes, there was nothing he could do to prevent
a collision.
The Colonial was going a little over 193 kilometers per hour (or 120 miles per hour) when it slammed
into the rear unit of the Conrail.
The two Amtrak locomotives at the head of the Colonial were instantly destroyed.
Fuel from the rear Conrail unit ignited, then exploded.
The impact threw the remaining two Conrail engines further up the track while the passenger
cars of the Colonial crumpled against one another.
One survivor, Pattsy Wallace, described the scene as it unfolded:
“You’d seen a big ball of fire, and the train was jumping and people were being thrown
everywhere.
It was horrible, like the world was ending.”
The tracks and electrical wires had become dislodged and destroyed, causing several more
passenger cars to derail past the point of impact.
When the wreckage finally came to a standstill, there was chaos.
Some passengers in the rearmost passenger cars were able to exit, uninjured, and leave
the scene.
At the same time, many people were trapped in the wreckage.
Another survivor, Beverly Poppell, also described the immediate aftermath in one of the wrecked
cars:
“Once we stopped, I tried to lift myself up but my injured shoulder wouldn’t let
me.
The lady sitting next to me started walking on me, and I thought, ‘well, I survived
the impact – now I’m going to be trampled to death.”
Residents from nearby neighborhoods heard the explosion and rushed out to help in any
way they could.
They were joined by police, fire and ambulance workers.
The rescue operation was far from easy.
The stainless steel construction of the passenger cars made it difficult to get through to potential
survivors, even to the point where specialist tools struggled to cut through to the victims.
In the end, the death toll reached 16, including Engineer Evans from the Colonial, who was
killed on impact.
162 of the passengers from the Colonial were injured.
The crew of the Conrail train survived, although Brakeman Cromwell suffered a broken leg.
Engineer Gates was uninjured.
At the time, it was the worst disaster in Amtrak’s history.
The only saving grace was that most of the front of the Colonial had been empty at the
time – with seats waiting to be filled by passengers at stations further along the line.
The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation.
They looked first at the Colonial, which was found to have been speeding.
The train included an older passenger car which was speed-restricted to 169 kilometers
per hour (or 105 miles per hour), slightly lower than the speed of the Colonial at the
time of the collision.
However, it was found that the Colonial’s excess speed had not contributed significantly
to the disaster.
The NTSB then looked to the Conrail crew.
After testing, it became apparent that both Engineer Gates and Brakeman Cromwell had been
smoking cannabis while on duty.
This had impaired their situational awareness, and contributed to them missing several signals
telling them to slow down, only finally attempting to brake when they came to the “stop”
signal.
In addition to this, it was found that Engineer Gates had a serious problem with alcohol use,
and had several times been dealt with by the police for driving his personal vehicle while
intoxicated.
Further to this, it was found that several warning systems inside the cab of the leading
Conrail unit had been disabled.
Signals which would have lit up to indicate danger had been removed, and an alerter whistle
had been muted with duct tape.
It was found to be unlikely that either Cromwell or Gates had done this themselves, but regardless
they should have remedied these problems during routine safety checks at the start of their
shift.
The investigation concluded that blame for the crash lay with the Conrail crew.
Both Cromwell and Gates resigned from Conrail to avoid termination, and were then arrested.
Cromwell agreed to testify against Gates, and was thereby granted immunity to prosecution.
Gates was charged with manslaughter by locomotive under Maryland law and sentenced to five years
in prison.
An additional 3 years were added for misleading the NTSB, as he had initially denied that
he had been using cannabis.
He was released from prison after serving four years.
In 1993, he revealed this was not the first time he got high on the job, expressed regret
for his actions, and would go on to state in the Baltimore Sun:
“I wouldn't trade a day of what I'm going through now for any of those so-called 'good
times' I had in the past.”
He became a substance abuse counselor, and has since spoken semi-publically about his
role in the crash, owning up to the decisions he made in the lead up to it.
In the aftermath, new safety measures were put in place to prevent a similar disaster
from taking place.
All freight locomotives running on the NEC were required to have automatic cab signaling
with an automatic train stop feature.
Conrail also installed locomotive speed limiters to automatically slow trains down in the event
of a missed slow, approach, or stop signal.
Several years after the accident, random drug testing of train operators was mandated by
Congress.
A memorial theatre was constructed in honor of one of the victims, Ceres Millicent Horn,
at the McDonogh School in Owings Mill, Maryland.
Even three decades later, the crash is solidified in railroad and Maryland history: a grim reminder
that a single bad decision or lapse in concentration can sometimes have terrible and far-reaching
consequences.