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- DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING FULL
- DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING SERIES
- DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING WINDOWS
today when 30 cars of a 68-car Monon freight jumped the tracks and piled up four deep in the center of this centennial-celebrating town. LOWELL - Alcohol in six tank cars burst into flames here at 12:20 a.m. Monon Train Splinters Old Depot 30 Cars Derailed Monon road officials had no comment on the cause of the accident nor estimate of the damage.įrom the Hammond Times, May 22, 1952, page 1+: The tank cars turned over, bursting into flame, and other derailed cars piled up alongside the railroad right-of-way. Brown of Lowell said the cars left the rails as the train passed through the downtown district. The train was en route from Hammond to Lafayette, Ind., on the Monon's main line.
DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING FULL
The firefighters prevented additional explosions by focusing the hoses of seven pump trucks and a foamite unit on several cars full of alcohol that had not caught fire from the other burning cars. "If the tank cars had gone 100 feet farther, though, there wouldn't have been much we could have done to save the business section." "We thought the whole town was going up, but the boys really pitched in to stop it. Harold Heuson, 43, Lowell volunteer fireman said : The heat from the blazing alcohol kept firemen 100 feet away. "Then the cars swayed and piled up and began to burn," he told police. He said he thought one wheel on a car buckled.
DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING WINDOWS
The blasts knocked pictures and mirrors off walls, smashed windows and dishes for blocks around.įiremen sprayed the tank cars with foamite.īud Quale, 28, of Lowell, a witness, said the wreck seemed to have been caused by a faulty wheel. One witness said, "They went up like tiddlywink disks." The explosions sent manhole covers high into the air.
DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS TRAIN TRAFFIC CONTROL BUILDING SERIES
The first explosion was followed by a series of blasts as the burning fuel seeped into the sewers. Flames, drawn upward by the volatile alcohol, shot three stories high. In the center of town derailed cars were piled four deep. Thousands of residents in the Lowell area, which is about 35 miles south of Chicago in Lake County, Ind., rushed to the scene. Indiana state police said it was "a miricle" no one was in the station at the time. The fire, seen in the night sky for miles, was under control after 150 firemen fought it for more than six hours. No one was killed or hurt, police said after hours of searching through the smoldering debris. Police said the depot crumbled "like a house of cards." The derailed cars plunged into the town's depot, setting it ablaze. Thirty cars of the 69-car train left the rails. BLAZING TRAIN BLASTS TOWN! Blasts Rocks Town After Freight WreckĮxplosions rocked the town of Lowell, Ind., Thursday morning as thousands of gallons of flaming alcohol poured out of a derailed Monon Line freight train.īurning tank cars, loaded with alcohol, gasoline and fuel oil, tied up travel on the town's main street and highway leading to Indianapolis. From the Chicago Sun-Times, May 22, 1952, pages 1 and 3: