Page 6 - 2026 Jan-Feb GC

The train wreck that changed US railroading

The causes of the horrible
loss of life were the fires due
to having wooden train cars,
unsecured pot-bellied coal
stoves, and kerosene lighting
lanterns that fueled the fires.
Then finally the braking
system was not adequate to
slow the train fast enough.

the tragic news reached Buffalo, an
unknown number of train personnel
took an extra train to the scene of
the accident, which was ¼ mile east
of the Village of Angola on the Big
Sisters Bridge, and got there about
5 p.m.
The train, which had the acci-
dent, was the New York Express the car, 25 thereof were identifiable, slow the train fast enough. All these
from Cleveland on the Lake Shore 19 were not (charred bodies). factors were eventually addressed
Railway, also where the Cleveland The dead and some of the minor and corrected.
and Toledo Rail was held back due injured were transported to Buffalo, Although the memory of this
to the accident. The train had 5 cars, the seriously injured were treated tragedy had been remembered by
3 being first class, traveling at a near the Big Sisters Bridge. many, it was not until 150 years
high speed of 20 m.p.h. The coffins with those unrecog- later in 2008, that the Evans Histor-
Up to the bridge all went well, nizable burned bodies went to Sol- ical Society and officials from the
but as the train got halfway across dier’s Rest in Buffalo (Forest Lawn Village of Angola, N.Y. dedicated a
the bridge, the passengers in the Cemetery) on Dec. 20, as last to be cast black metal roadside pole
cars suddenly felt a terrible jolt, the identified. (See illustration). Even marker at the corner of Mill Street
last car lifted up, stumbled from the though this was terrible, 3 more and Gowans Road in Angola to
bridge down to the ice, a distance of bodies were found. commemorate the event and to re-
40’. The brakes to stop the train did On Dec. 22, the 19 unfortunates member the victims that were in-
not stop the second to last car to were buried. An unimaginable num- jured, and those that perished.
derail and roll over. ber of people gathered at the central Sadly, it was stolen in 2016 and not
This happened so quickly, that train station in Exchange Place recovered. How sad on top of sad-
no one could help themselves, with- (Buffalo), to acknowledge the buri- ness!
in a blink of an eye 40 to 50 people als of those unidentified and un- An interesting book about this
By Daniel Schwarz
Jan. 11, 1868, issue of Frank Les- were lost. Both cars started on fire, claimed. historical catastrophe was published
horrible passenger train lie’s Illustrirte Zeitung. A copy of
wreck occurred over 150 in the second to last car luckily the There was one platform draped in 2013, titled “The Angola Horror:
the actual article along with the il- flames subsided and the wounded with black cloth, and one for the The 1867 Train Wreck That
Ayears ago in the US that is lustrations is also presented here. In
still impacting our lives today due to were rescued, then taken to neigh- arrivals of the dead; where the 19 Shocked the Nation and Trans-
the days following, as is common borhood homes. (See illustration). coffins were placed. (See illustra- formed American Railroads”, au-
the safety changes enacted as a re- with ongoing news stories, some of
sult. This occurred on December 18, It was understood, that the fatal tion). thored by Charity Vogel of Buffalo,
the details and numbers of victims accident resulted from a broken axle At 2 p.m. the mayor, railway NY. This book brought this histor-
1867, and for its magnitude of changed, but the horror remained.
deaths, injured, and manner of the of the last car. It is believed that officials, and choirs from various ical event and updated details to
You will quickly notice that the arti- most of the people in the incinerated churches arrived. The ceremonies light, including the important safety
deaths by fire, it has been called cle is printed using the German
“The Angola Horror.” It was near car fatally died when hitting the ice began with about 8,000 people as- and operational changes that oc-
Fraktur alphabet font, which is now below. 44 bodies were taken out of sembled. curred as a result.
the Village of Angola in Western obsolete for text, but may still be
New York, which is located on the Captain Cook began the reli- Then, most recently on May 12,
seen as decorative art and in some gious ceremony, then between 2016, Forest lawn Cemetery in Buf-
shore of Lake Erie, where a passen- advertising.
ger train from Cleveland, OH travel- preaching, the choirs sang, along falo, NY. permitted the “Friends of
• • • with an organ, alternating. the Village of Angola” to place a
ing to Buffalo, NY, had several of
its cars derailed. This resulted in Railroad Thereafter, they processed sol- stone monument in Section E (for-
emnly to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where merly known as Soldier’s Rest) to
more carnage and death than any Accident at
other train accident in US history to further services continued. Dr. Shel- remember those who died, which
that time. Angola, N.Y. ton here concluded the services.” included the 17 unidentifiable pas-
A German language weekly • • • sengers buried there. The epitaph on
The express train The final investigation for this the monument reads: “Known But
newspaper, Frank Leslie’s Illus- between Cleveland
trirte Zeitung, (illustrated newspa- train wreck catastrophe resulted in to God – Buried in this quiet place
(Ohio) and Buffalo
per), reported on this event in (N.Y.) on the Lake
graphic details. It was a newspaper
Shore Railway, which
that wrote about current events as at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 18,
well as human interest stories, sup-
was going to be late to
plemented with amazing, detailed arrive in Buffalo, got to
recreated event illustrations. These
Angola which was
B&W printed illustrations were about 21 miles west
made using wood engravings, litho-
from Buffalo. A train
graphs, and even steel engravings. car was tossed down
When seeing these illustrations of
40’ from the bridge,
the event, showing how gruesome it started on fire and over
was, it may surprise us now how the
30 passengers were
journalism reporting and its illustra- burned to death. Anoth-
tions were so graphic at that time!
er car fell about 20’, 12
The following is a loose transla- or 14 people were
tion of the actual article reporting
killed and numerous
this event. It was published in the
wounded. As soon as finding the primary causes. The ac- are the unidentified victims of the
cident started with the train being Angola Horror. A disastrous train
late, traveling at a higher speed for de-railment on Dec 18, 1867, in
the tracks using “compromised Angola, NY which left many in-
cars” which could run on different jured and claimed close to 50 lives
rail gauges (rail spacing). This was at its fiery journey’s end nearly a
due to tracks owned by competing third of all who perished lie there –
rail companies and non-coordinat- unknown their shocking sacrifice
ing gauges. It was also found that stirred outcries to make the nation’s
the last car had a bent axle that was rail travel safer”.
the initial cause for the derailment Some say that experience is a
on the changing track (called a frog) cruel teacher, it gives you the exam
and changing rail gauges at the first, then the lesson. It is good to
bridge. The causes of the horrible know that in this Titanic type of
loss of life were the fires due to event, causes were uncovered, les-
having wooden train cars, unse- sons were learned, and good chang-
cured pot-bellied coal stoves, and es to railroading in the US were
kerosene lighting lanterns that fu- made that we continue to benefit
eled the fires. Then finally the brak- from.
ing system was not adequate to

6 • THE GERMAN CITIZEN • January - February 2026