The 17 July1856, started out to be a beautiful yet excruciatingly hot day for the people of Pennsylvania. The children of Saint Michael Catholic Church were scheduled to go on a picnic and, not only was the day turning out more beautiful than expected, but also the thought of being a passenger on board a train was exhilarating for all; parents included.

Just a year earlier, the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company built a horse-drawn car rail line and, in 1852, the steam-car North Pennsylvania Railroad began under a different name; Philadelphia, Easton, and Water Gap Railroad. The road that went up to Gwynedd was officially opened for transportation on Monday, July 2, 1855; the station located on the Master Street west of Second, and up at Washington and Montgomery Streets was the one on which the Sunday school picnic departed.

Unbeknown to the passengers, the day would soon turn tragic and horrific. There was scheduled to be another train coming along the track from Gwynedd. The two trains knew of each other and one of them was expected to go off onto a siding to let the other one pass.

The church train was already twenty minutes behind schedule and the train’s director, Alfred F. Hoppel, made an awful mistake when he decided to go 35mph to make up time, estimating that he could miss the train from Gwynedd. He was wrong.

The two trains collided, resulting in the first three cars of the church train catching fire. More than sixty people died, with the majority being children. A hundred others were severely injured and traumatized. The director of the train from Gwynedd committed suicide shortly after the blast.

A lot of heroic people came to the rescue of the victims, with one of them, Mary Ambler, awarded with a town in Pennsylvania named after her. Unfortunately, because of lack of patience, communication, humility, and thoughtfulness, the railroad catastrophe of 1856 was just one of many disasters to occur.
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Photo Caption: Sketch of the railroad catastrophe by unknown artist, 1856.

Meet the Author

I am a student at Schoolcraft College. History has always been one of my favorite subjects to learn.