Located on the Mahoning Division about 18 miles east of Kent; double-track with ABS rules.
The railroad passed on the north side of the Ravenna Arsenal; "AD" had hand-operated main-track crossovers, a siding on the south side, and a wye off the siding connecting the Arsenal lead. Because of vastly increased employment at the Arsenal, an accommodation train was operated from Youngstown to the Arsenal; on this date ID'd as PASSENGER EXTRA 1644 with 10 cars.
X1644 arrived at AD at about 7 AM and pulled clear of the crossover. The head brakeman called the Dispatcher for permission to crossover and enter the Arsenal and then went west to flag while the rear brakeman lined the route and went used the communicating whistle to start the reverse movement. While backing, X1644 was struck by EXTRA 3400 EAST (51 cars + caboose) which approached the site at about 50 mph, reduced to about 30 mph at impact.
There was confusion about the authority of the passenger train to make the reverse movement without proper flagging or waiting for time after operating the switches due to its bulletin order schedule authority. However, this terminated at "AD" and did not authorize the movement into the Arsenal.
3 cars of X1644 were derailed and the 8 others damaged; the 3400 derailed and overturned and head 15 cars were derailed.
2 fatalities and 164 injuries were reported.
The railroad passed on the north side of the Ravenna Arsenal; "AD" had hand-operated main-track crossovers, a siding on the south side, and a wye off the siding connecting the Arsenal lead. Because of vastly increased employment at the Arsenal, an accommodation train was operated from Youngstown to the Arsenal; on this date ID'd as PASSENGER EXTRA 1644 with 10 cars.
X1644 arrived at AD at about 7 AM and pulled clear of the crossover. The head brakeman called the Dispatcher for permission to crossover and enter the Arsenal and then went west to flag while the rear brakeman lined the route and went used the communicating whistle to start the reverse movement. While backing, X1644 was struck by EXTRA 3400 EAST (51 cars + caboose) which approached the site at about 50 mph, reduced to about 30 mph at impact.
There was confusion about the authority of the passenger train to make the reverse movement without proper flagging or waiting for time after operating the switches due to its bulletin order schedule authority. However, this terminated at "AD" and did not authorize the movement into the Arsenal.
3 cars of X1644 were derailed and the 8 others damaged; the 3400 derailed and overturned and head 15 cars were derailed.
2 fatalities and 164 injuries were reported.
