Monon Wrecks

Updated 03-26-2008

Wrecks are not pleasant to contemplate, but are a fact of life. Please, be careful around trains, track, railroad equipment, and crossings. Trains are big, heavy, and dangerous. The speed of a train can be deceptive because of its size. It can be moving a lot faster than it looks. A train hitting a car is about the equivalent of a car hitting a tin can. The car always loses. There is a train/vehicle accident in the United States about every ninety seconds. Don't be a statistic.


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This is a collection of some Monon railroad disasters/accidents/wrecks.

1880's Wea Creek Bridge Collapse.

June 16, 1892 Bedford, Indiana. A northbound passenger train on the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago railroad met with a serious accident about four miles south of Bedford. Nearing the White river bridge, the rear coach jumped the track and rolled down a steep embankment, pulling the other coach and the engine, tender and mail and baggage cars with it. The engine also jumped the track, but lodged about half-way down the embankment. Killed was John Carmony, Engineer. (Added 03-26-2008 -Courtesy Kenneth Weller from the June 17, 1882 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. )

July 28, 1884: collapse of White River bridge on B&B branch.

1890 Pittsburg, Indiana. Wreck and collapse of the Wabash River bridge.

May 4, 1892 Otis, Indiana. During a severe storm, an 11 car freight train, drawn by locomotive #27 derailed after the bridge washed out north of Otis, Indiana. Killed were Engineer John Murray and Fireman Jim Bowen. (Added 03-26-2008 -courtesy Betty Smith-

1892 Crawfordsville, Indiana. Northbound passenger hits broken rail north of Sugar Creek and derails sending several coaches down steep embankment. Many fatalities and injuries, including Madame Irma Van Rokey of Hungary and her troupe who had performed at Music Hall.

1903: Salt Creek bridge on B&B branch collapsed under stone train.

June 5, 1910: Dewitts Siding, south of Lowell, Indiana. MP 46.5. Passenger Train #4 slams into rear of Train #72. The passenger was traveling close to 55 miles per hour. 1 fatality.

1911: Manchester, Indiana. Accident at the south end of the Manchester siding. (More details to follow.)

June 10, 1912: passenger trains 5 and 8 collide head-on at Sandpit. (4 miles south of Bedford); 1 mail clerk killed, 50 injured.

June 10 or 11, 1912: 1-2 freight cars derailed of freight #71, at Hunter switch north of Bloomington.

May 5, 1914. Lowell, Indiana. Train No. 4, the fast Louisville-Chicago mail train, on the Monon route was wrecked at this place at 9 o'clock Tuesday morning. The wreck occurred at the Washington Street crossing and was derailed by a broken switch.

September 11, 1924: 26 cars of northbound freight train #56 derailed 1/2 mile south of Taylor station (south of Lafayette); 2 killed, 1 injured.

April 9,1924: Wabash River The crash took out one of the truss spans over the Wabash at MP 115.7 (south of Battleground).

May 25, 1928: passenger train #36 hit low-boy trailer north of St. John, Indiana; engineer & fireman killed.

June 12, 1936: Putnamville, Indiana. Freight train wreck.

July 26, 1936 ? Train #73 derails at Water Valley (Kankakee River) near Shelby, Indiana.

Late 30's/early 40's: Indianapolis (53rd Street) freight train derailed.

1939 Bainbridge, Indiana. Southbound freight hits truck loaded with roll of paper (Additional info to be posted.)

November 27, 1943, derailment at Rossville.

May 18, 1944 Train #6 hit Hancock Industries semi truck loaded with toilets, Dyer, Indiana.

March 6, 1947: 2 cars damaged when car driven into Monon freight engine on 5th Street in Lafayette.

March 25, 1947: Monon employee run over by yard engine at Monon.

March 29, 1947: 2 cars and caboose of freight #93 derailed; passenger trains #14 & 15 detoured over NKP.

June 3, 1947: head-on collision in Ash Grove between freight trains #70 and 75.

June 5, 1947: NKP passenger engine hit Monon engine of freight # 90 in Frankfort.

Late 1940's: Mitchell: northbound train with an F3 set in the lead followed by a 570 class steamer struck a hopper in a B&O train at the crossing; front truck of the F-3 derailed.

May 14, 1949: Ladoga, Indiana. Derailment involving Train #72.

January, 1950: Ames tower knocked down by derailment of a CI&L train.

January 8, 1950: Ladoga, Indiana. Derailment of Train #70.

May 5, 1950 at Mile Post 111: passenger train #5 hit truck, delayed 30 minutes.

1950's (?) Crawfordsville, Indiana. Accident at Main Street crossing, pedestrian injured.

September 17, 1951: derailment of passenger train #5 at Monon ; engineer died, 6 people injured, station destroyed.

May 22, 1952: derailment/fire in Lowell. Lowell 1952 Train Wreck which details the accident.

June 4, 1952: Train #90 derails several cars near Cambria.

Early 1950's: bridge south of Crawfordsville washed out; trains detoured for about 2 months.

February 27, 1957. Rose Lawn, Indiana. Southbound passenger derails.

November 24, 1959 at South Raub: 20 loads of coal wrecked; 7 hoppers unrepairable.

Rose Lawn, derailment (1950s?).

February 1963: at St. Joseph: 28 cars on southbound freight #73 derailed. Caused by hotbox on a carload of meat out of Chicago. Line was cleared in 3 days, cleanup took 9 days to complete.

October 15, 1964. Lowell, Indiana. South of Globe Industries. Several cars from a northbound 119 car freight train derail. Damage estimated at $75,000.00.

1967: Wanatah, Indiana: several tri-levels loaded with Pontiacs derailed. (This wreck was thought to be caused by harmonic motion. Train speed was adjusted to avoid the 14mph critical speed on jointed 39 ft rail. Frank VanBree)

November 18, 1969: Indianapolis: 20 cars of a southbound Monon freight derailed at 6:55a.m. at East 75th and Westfield Boulevard.

January 20, 1970: Greencastle: Two persons were killed instantly in a train-car accident on the Crow's Bridge Road at the Monon Railroad crossing northeast of Greencastle at 7:55 p.m. The train, No. 72, was enroute from Bloomington to Lafayette. The engineer was R. E. Prien and the conductor was Ray Miner, both of Lafayette. The engineer said the train was traveling between 45 and 50 miles an hour at the time of the crash. The automobile was wedged on the front of the diesel locomotive. -Information courtesy Tina Watkins and the Greencastle Banner Graphic-

1970: Indianapolis: southbound freight #91 hit an empty school bus at 73rd and Westfield Blvd; semaphores destroyed; bus driver survived.

October 9, 1971 Creston, Indiana. Broken wheel causes the derailment of several cars.

1975: Crawfordsville, Indiana. Wabash Avenue bridge. Derailment.

August 17, 1993: wash-out of track at MP's 187, 191, 202 (around Cloverdale to Gosport) I obtained some of this info by looking at microfilm of 1947 copies of the Lafayette Journal & Courier in the Tippecanoe County Library. Ken Weller., Lafayette, IN

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