[Rarebooks] FS: Crash at Crush: Waco, Texas Steam Locomotive Duel

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

"THE CRASH AT CRUSH. FAMOUS DUEL OF THE IRON MONSTERS. Waco, Texas, U.S.A.
September 15, 1896"

By E.L. Connally. Published in Waco by the Texian Press: 1960.

In 1896 William Crush, a young employee of the M.K&T (Katy) railroad in
Texas, got the idea to drum up business by mounting a “spectacle”-
crashing two obsolete locomotives together head-on at 90 m.p.h. Nobody had
ever done such a thing on purpose before. Concerned about possible
injuries and liability lawsuits, the Katy railroad canvassed many railroad
engineers as to whether or not the locomotive’s boilers would explode on
impact. A lone Scots engineer said of course they would explode, but every
other expert who was asked answered that there was no danger- the boilers
would not explode.

Armed with that encouraging consensus, plans went forward. A spot sixteen
miles outside downtown Waco was selected, and handbills and flyers were
distributed. On crash day some 30,000 people turned out. It was a gala,
picnic event.

The trains were brought together, nose to nose, one last time, then backed
up to their starting positions. The signal went off, the engineers opened
the throttles and jumped for their lives.

At 90 m.p.h. the trains came together in a tremendous crash.

And half a second later both boilers exploded with a deafening roar. Half
a dozen people were killed and scores injured by flying debris. The
railroad prepared for lawsuits and fired young William Crush on the spot.
But then business picked up! Crush was rehired.

Nobody, however, cared to try crashing steam locomotives together again.

A scarce booklet.

Softcover. 6”x9”, 16 pages, with 8 black & white illustrations. Light
soil. $75.00

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