via White Plains Road Posted August 28, 2008 Share #1 Posted August 28, 2008 On August 28, 1991, an accident occurred just north of the station, killing five people in one of the worst wrecks since the Malbone Street Disaster of 1918. The train operator, Robert Ray, had been overshooting platforms on the entire run. Just north of 14th Street–Union Square the train was to be shifted to the local track due to repairs. He had been running the train at 40 mph (65 km/h) in a 10 mph (16 km/h) zone and took the switch so fast that only the front of the first car made the crossover. The third and fourth cars ended up perpendicular to the tracks, having sheared off support columns and split in half. The line suffered heavy damage and service was disrupted for six days (trains terminating at 59th street for the duration) as transit workers toiled around the clock to clean up the wreckage. The entire infrastructure, including signals, switches, track, roadbed, cabling, and 23 support columns needed to be replaced. The motorman was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was set free in April 2001 for good behavior. The wreck occurred between 18th Street station and 14th Street – Union Square on the downtown side at the entry to a former pocket track. Like 72nd Street on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, 14th Street – Union Square was built with extra tracks on the approach to the station. These were between the incoming local and express track and were one old IRT train length long. The idea was to have a 'stacking' track where a train could be held momentarily until the platform cleared for it to enter the station. The tracks here and at 72nd Street were rendered useless when train lengths grew beyond their capacity. When the damage from the 1991 wreck was repaired, the stacking track was removed, but the crossover was not made gentler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubwayGuy Posted August 28, 2008 Share #2 Posted August 28, 2008 Yup I remember that...hard to believe I was 5 years old... My father had to go to work still, Bleecker St. area... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Posted August 28, 2008 Share #3 Posted August 28, 2008 I was in High School and remember this sad event very well. I remember buying all the local papers to get every angle of the story. It was a terrible accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton Local Posted August 28, 2008 Share #4 Posted August 28, 2008 I remember hearing about this too. I was 7 at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East New York Posted August 28, 2008 Share #5 Posted August 28, 2008 I remember that too I was 8! Thanks for posting! I forgot all about that incident. I remember all the adults around talking about if the T/O should have gone to prison or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo M 201 Posted August 28, 2008 Share #6 Posted August 28, 2008 Damn, I was only 1 years old or about at that time. That was a horrific event. The 2nd worst wreck in the subway ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
via White Plains Road Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share #7 Posted August 28, 2008 Yup I remember that...hard to believe I was 5 years old... My father had to go to work still, Bleecker St. area... I was in High School and remember this sad event very well. I remember buying all the local papers to get every angle of the story. It was a terrible accident. I remember hearing about this too. I was 7 at the time. I remember that too I was 8! Thanks for posting! I forgot all about that incident. I remember all the adults around talking about if the T/O should have gone to prison or not. Damn, I was only 1 years old or about at that time. That was a horrific event. The 2nd worst wreck in the subway ever. I was 11 yrs old when this happened and I was living in The Bronx. It is the worse subway incident I ever came across. IMO he should have served more than 15 yrs in prison! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1447 Posted August 28, 2008 Share #8 Posted August 28, 2008 Yea I kinda remember, but until 2007, then i did, seems like that T/O was kinda in a world we dont know off LOL u got it off BVS, good one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTR Admiralty Posted August 28, 2008 Share #9 Posted August 28, 2008 crap, i wasn't even born! prolly started doing jumping jacks inside my mum then... lol heard the t/o came out unscathed... a bit remin of the malbone wreck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubwayGuy Posted August 29, 2008 Share #10 Posted August 29, 2008 crap, i wasn't even born! prolly started doing jumping jacks inside my mum then... lolheard the t/o came out unscathed... a bit remin of the malbone wreck Because the T/O's is in the front of the train, both trains took curves (one a curve, one a curve on a switch), and in that case the front truck will make the curve which means the T/O will be safe, but probably bent heck out of the rails for sure, then along comes truck #2 and it doesn't quite make it the same, and the cars start leaving the rails and it's all downhill from there. But the T/O is in the very front, he'd be fine because he made the curve. His prison sentence would of ended something like last year or 2 years ago then, wonder what he's doing now...hopefully not operating anything big... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTR Admiralty Posted August 29, 2008 Share #11 Posted August 29, 2008 Because the T/O's is in the front of the train, both trains took curves (one a curve, one a curve on a switch), and in that case the front truck will make the curve which means the T/O will be safe, but probably bent heck out of the rails for sure, then along comes truck #2 and it doesn't quite make it the same, and the cars start leaving the rails and it's all downhill from there. But the T/O is in the very front, he'd be fine because he made the curve. His prison sentence would of ended something like last year or 2 years ago then, wonder what he's doing now...hopefully not operating anything big... luciano got the lockup after the malbone incident right? lol, not even a ups truck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R68 Subway Car Posted August 29, 2008 Share #12 Posted August 29, 2008 Sad day in transit history indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princelex Posted August 29, 2008 Share #13 Posted August 29, 2008 I was 12 when that happened and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in Jacksonville, Florida when it happened and it was the 1st story on the news down there and I was just SHOCKED. I came home a few days later and was caught up with all the newspapers my grandparents saved up so I could read up on it and I followed the story on the news for the rest of the time. It was all over the place here until service was restored, which took them about, I'd say almost a week, which was real fast considering how big the damage was. School started the day after service was restored and the moved as if nothing had happened. The whole thing was so sad and it never should have happened. Hopefully it'll never happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R68 Subway Car Posted August 29, 2008 Share #14 Posted August 29, 2008 crap, i wasn't even born! prolly started doing jumping jacks inside my mum then... lolheard the t/o came out unscathed... a bit remin of the malbone wreck I was not born until October 1992. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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