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Discussion relating to the PRR, up to 1968. Visit the PRR Technical & Historical Society for more information.
 #1481394  by shlustig
 
This is the 78th anniversary of the head-on collision between the southbound "Akron Doodlebug" and a double-headed northbound freight in which 43 passengers died and only the 3-man crew survived.

The self-propelled passenger car departed Hudson OT and had orders to take siding at Silver Lake to meet the freight. They failed to do so. When the trains collided, the gas tank of the doodlebug ruptured and the fuel ignited.

The crew was not charged criminally as it was possible that the engineer was exposed to CO poisoning from engine exhaust leaking into his control area which had been reported previously.