1943 Frankford Junction Train Wreck
The Frankford Junction train wreck occurred on September 6, 1943, when Pennsylvania Railroad's premier train, the ''Congressional Limited'', crashed at Frankford Junction in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States, killing 79 people and injuring 117 others. Train The ''Congressional Limited'' traveled between Washington, D.C., and New York City, normally making one stop in Newark, New Jersey, covering the in 3½ hours at speeds up to , remarkable at the time. As it was Labor Day in 1943, the company laid on 16-car trains to accommodate the expected high demand. At Washington's Union Station on Monday, September 6, 541 passengers boarded the 4 p.m. train, its 16 cars hauled by PRR GG1 electric locomotive number 4930,ICC Investigation No.2726 scheduled to travel nonstop to Pennsylvania Station, New York.Investigation No.2726at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United State ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frankford Junction, Pennsylvania
Frankford Junction is a railroad junction, and former junction station, located on the border between the Harrowgate neighborhood of Philadelphia and Frankford, Philadelphia. At the junction, the 4-track Northeast Corridor line from Trenton connects with the 2-track Atlantic City Line from Atlantic City in the northeastern portion of Philadelphia about northeast of North Philadelphia station. It lies near the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Butler Street, to the west of the interchange between Interstate 95 and the approach to the Betsy Ross Bridge. It has been used for rail transportation since 1832 but has not served as a station since October 4, 1992. Overview The junction has seen a mass of freight and passenger service throughout its existence. In 1832 the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad (P&T) was formed and started service with a small yard. The line extended southwest of the junction and on to destinations north. In 1871 the railroad was leased by the Pennsyl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Journal Box
A bogie or railroad truck holds the wheel sets of a rail vehicle. Axlebox An axlebox, also known as a journal box in North America, is the mechanical subassembly on each end of the axles under a railway wagon, coach or locomotive; it contains bearings and thus transfers the wagon, coach or locomotive weight to the wheels and rails; the bearing design is typically oil-bathed plain bearings on older rolling stock, or roller bearings on newer rolling stock. Plain bearings are now illegal for interchange service in North America. As early as 1908 axle boxes contained a set of long cylindrical rollers allowing the axle to rotate. It was also used on steam locomotives such as the Victorian Railways A2 class, the LMS Garratt, the LSWR 415 class, and the GCR Class 1. Center pin A large steel pin—or rod—which passes through the center plates on the body bolster and truck bolster. The truck turns about the pin, and stress is taken by the center plates. Center plate O ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Railway Accidents In 1943
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e .... It is used for about 8% of passenger and rail freight transport, freight transport globally, thanks to its Energy efficiency in transport, energy efficiency and potentially high-speed rail, high speed.Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower friction, frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains. Power is usually provided by Diesel locomotive, diesel or Electric locomotive, electric locomotives. While railway t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bureau Of Transportation Statistics
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United States Department of Transportation, is a government office that compiles, analyzes, and publishes information on the nation's transportation systems across various modes; and strives to improve the DOT's statistical programs through research and the development of guidelines for data collection and analysis. BTS is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. History BTS was officially created by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, passed on December 18, 1991, subsequently beginning operations as a modal administration with the USDOT on October 19, 1992. BTS absorbed the financial and operating statistics office of the former Civil Aeronautics Board in 1995, incorporating it as its Office of Airline Information. BTS gained the National Transportation Library in 1998, a stipulation of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Following a Congressionally ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including Intercity bus service, interstate bus lines and telephone companies. United States Congress, Congress expanded ICC authority to regulate other modes of commerce beginning in 1906. Throughout the 20th century, several of ICC's authorities were transferred to other federal agencies. The ICC was abolished in 1995, and its remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board. The Commission's five members were appointed by the President of the United States, President with the consent of the United States Senate. This was the first Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2015 Philadelphia Train Derailment
On May 12, 2015, an Amtrak ''Northeast Regional'' train from Washington, D.C. bound for New York City derailed and wrecked on the Northeast Corridor near the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Of the 238 passengers and 5 crew on board, 8 were killed and over 200 were injured, with 11 critically so. The train was traveling at in a zone of curved tracks when it derailed. Some of the passengers had to be extricated from the wrecked cars. Many of the passengers and local residents helped first responders during the rescue operation. Five local hospitals treated the injured. The derailment disrupted train service for several days. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the derailment was caused by the train's engineer (driver) becoming distracted by other radio transmissions and losing Situation awareness, situational awareness, and said that it would have been prevented by positive train control, a computerized speed-limiting system that was o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United States, contiguous U.S. states and three Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces. ''Amtrak'' is a portmanteau of the words ''America'' and ''track.'' Founded in 1971 as a Quasi-corporation, quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit corporation, for-profit organization. The company's headquarters is located one block west of Washington Union Station, Union Station in Washington, D.C. Amtrak is headed by a Board of Directors, two of whom are the United States Secretary of Transportation, secretary of transportation and chief executive officer (CEO) of Amtrak, while the other eight members are nominated to serve a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hightstown Rail Accident
The Hightstown rail accident occurred on the Camden and Amboy Railroad between Hightstown, New Jersey and Spotswood on November 8, 1833, just two months after horses were replaced by steam locomotives on the line. It is the earliest recorded train accident involving the death of passengers in America. The train had been travelling from South Amboy to Bordentown at a speed of , when, despite having stopped "to oil the wheels" and slowing to , a journal box overheated (a condition known as hot box) and caught fire, causing an axle to break on one of the carriages, derailing and overturning it. All but one of the 24 passengers it carried were injured; one was killed outright and another died later from his injuries. Among the injured was Cornelius Vanderbilt, who broke a leg and vowed never to travel by train again, although he later broke his vow and eventually became a railway magnate, owning the New York Central Railroad, among others. Another passenger was Congressman and for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang (10 October 1895 – 26 March 1976) was a Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator. One scholar commented that Lin's "particular blend of sophistication and casualness found a wide audience, and he became a major humorous and critical presence", and he made compilations and translations of the Chinese classics into English. His ''My Country and My People'' (1935) reached the top of the ''New York Times'' bestseller list. Some of his writings criticized the racism and imperialism of the West. Early life Lin was born in 1895 in the town of Banzai, Fujian. His father was a Christian minister. His journey of faith from Christianity to Taoism and Buddhism, and back to Christianity in his later life was recorded in his book ''From Pagan to Christian'' (1959). Academia Lin studied for his bachelor's degree at St. John's University, Shanghai, St. John's University, a Christian university in Shanghai. Then he received a half-scholarship to continue stu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bernard Samuel
Bernard "Barney" Samuel (March 9, 1880 – January 12, 1954) was a Republican politician who served as the 89th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1941 to 1952. He is to date the last Republican elected mayor of Philadelphia. Political career Ascension to the office of Mayor Samuel first won election to city council in 1923. When in 1939 George Connell, then president of city council, became acting mayor upon the death of S. Davis Wilson, Samuel ascended to the position of president pro tempore. Upon the death in August 1941 of Mayor Robert Lamberton, however, Samuel assumed the mayoralty for the remainder of Lamberton's term. Mayoral tenure Samuel won election and re-election to the mayor's office in 1943 and 1947, defeating Democrats William Bullitt and Richardson Dilworth respectively, to become the first multi-term mayor since William Stokley, who served from 1872 through 1881. His mayoral tenure was the longest in Philadelphia's history. He supported the creation of a cit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Acetylene Torch
Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, biodiesel, kerosene, etc) and oxygen to weld or cut metals. French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-acetylene welding in 1903. Pure oxygen, instead of air, is used to increase the flame temperature to allow localized melting of the workpiece material (e.g. steel) in a room environment. A common propane/air flame burns at about , a propane/oxygen flame burns at about , an oxyhydrogen flame burns at and an acetylene/oxygen flame burns at about . During the early 20th century, before the development and availability of coated arc welding electrodes in the late 1920s that were capable of making sound welds in steel, oxy-acetylene welding was the only process capable of making welds of exceptionall ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |