Troop Train Accident

The Troop Train accident

Coshocton county is a small county and other than The Historic Roscoe Village it has vary little other historic events or places. One of those exceptions is the Memorial to The Troop Train Accident where a civilian passage train called the “Spirit of St. Louis” crashed into a military train injuring a total of 278 military troops were injured and 33 of those injured “Thirty-three members of two batteries of 109^th Field Artillery Battalion, were killed.” ("Troop Train Accident"). The Troop Train accident occurred September 11^th, 1950 near the city of West Lafayette and was caused of the negligence of an engineer by the name of Willie E. Eller. The “Spirit of St. Louis” was been driven by Mr. Eller when it rammed into the back of the military train carrying the 109^th Field Artillery Battalions train injuring most of the troops located in the last 3 cars of the train and killing 33 National Guard troops. At a military inquiry regarding this incident it was revealed the Mr. Eller’s train was running late, had ignored a stop signal, and was going to fast when it slammed into the troop train. September 13^th, 1950 the bodies where placed on a train in Columbus and with national guards and planes dropping flowers during the trip they arrived at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on the afternoon of September 14^th, 1950. A memorial of this tragic event remains in Township road 25 in West Lafayette.

This accident was a tragedy that easily could have been prevented. We can learn from history about our mistakes. If Mr. Eller would have taken his time and obeyed the law as he was supposed to and had not have gotten into a hurry this entire incident could have been prevented. Modern Society seems to be in such a rush that we often forget that accidents and disasters such as The Troop Train accident are caused by rushed carelessness. Let’s learn from this tragic incident and stop rushing and speeding to make up time because that is what causes accidents.

Coshocton Fire Department Link containing full story and list of casualties as well as pictures: http://coshoctonfire.org/troop-train-accident/nggallery/slideshow

Citation:

“Troop Train Accident.” Coshocton Fire Department, Wilkes-Barre Record Almanac, coshoctonfire.org/troop-train-accident/nggallery/slideshow.