Mason
City, Iowa Train/School Bus Crash
Oct. 22, 1937
New and
Old technology's tragic Mason City meeting
For
our second tragic field trip, we're heading for a town that both
music lovers and John Dillinger fans...Thirties gangster-philes
in general for that matter...know well. Mason City, Iowa.
Back in February 1959 a Beech Bonanza departed from Mason City's airport, taking off during a snow storm, and flew off into music history...that day, February 3rd, 1959, would go down in history as 'The Day The Music Died'. Twenty-five years before that, in one of the most infamous of his many bank robberies, John Dillinger and his gang knocked over the First National Bank in Mason City.
The deaths of Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and J. P. Richardson, AKA The Big Bopper, were commemorated with a a #1 hit song and Dillinger's robbery of the First National Bank has been re-enacted annually for years...these two events have become permanently ingrained in Mason City's history. But, unless you dug down real deeply in the dusty file bin containing near-forgotten events, you'd very likely never hear about the train-bus crash that killed ten students, two teachers, and the bus driver, because Mason City's most tragic event is apparently also its least well known.
Back in February 1959 a Beech Bonanza departed from Mason City's airport, taking off during a snow storm, and flew off into music history...that day, February 3rd, 1959, would go down in history as 'The Day The Music Died'. Twenty-five years before that, in one of the most infamous of his many bank robberies, John Dillinger and his gang knocked over the First National Bank in Mason City.
The deaths of Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and J. P. Richardson, AKA The Big Bopper, were commemorated with a a #1 hit song and Dillinger's robbery of the First National Bank has been re-enacted annually for years...these two events have become permanently ingrained in Mason City's history. But, unless you dug down real deeply in the dusty file bin containing near-forgotten events, you'd very likely never hear about the train-bus crash that killed ten students, two teachers, and the bus driver, because Mason City's most tragic event is apparently also its least well known.
On October
22nd
1937 the U.S. was still in the midst of The Great Depression, though things
had eased a bit since the Depression's worst year...1933...and some
areas weren't in as bad a shape as others, often because of the amount and type
of industry that called the city or region home. Mason City's a good example of this.
The city has a population of about 27,500 today and was only slightly smaller back in 1937, with a population of about 25,000, when it was still known as one of the largest producers of brick and tile in the country. Brick and tile manufacture was a huge industry, thanks at least in part to FDR's Works Projects Administration, which erected thousands upon thousands of government buildings, from post offices to new city halls to fire stations, during the mid Thirties. Way more than a few of the bricks used to build those buildings came from Mason City, which boasted no fewer than eight big brick and tile plants in 1933, and the oldest and largest of them all was the Mason City Brick and Tile company, located on what was then the city's southwest boundary.
The city has a population of about 27,500 today and was only slightly smaller back in 1937, with a population of about 25,000, when it was still known as one of the largest producers of brick and tile in the country. Brick and tile manufacture was a huge industry, thanks at least in part to FDR's Works Projects Administration, which erected thousands upon thousands of government buildings, from post offices to new city halls to fire stations, during the mid Thirties. Way more than a few of the bricks used to build those buildings came from Mason City, which boasted no fewer than eight big brick and tile plants in 1933, and the oldest and largest of them all was the Mason City Brick and Tile company, located on what was then the city's southwest boundary.
All
of this industry provided thousands of jobs for Mason City area
residents, easing the trials of the
Depression for them significantly...But it was still The Great Depression. Jobs were still scarce, and school systems
did everything in their power to try and help soon-to-graduate
students find work after they received their diploma. Never mind
college...college enrollment in the thirties was at it's lowest ebb
in history thanks to the Depression...these kids needed jobs when they graduated, both
for themselves and to help their families .
To
this end, Renwick High School...located in tiny Renwick, Iowa, sixty or so road miles from Mason City... sent the school's vocational class on
a field trip to Mason City to tour the various industries and
businesses every fall. So, early on that fateful October 22nd
twenty-nine kids climbed aboard an already elderly,
wood-framed, mid-20s vintage school bus, sat down in the perimeter
seating that the ride was inevitably equipped with, and settled in
for the sixty mile trip north up State Route 17, then east on
US 18, kicking back and socializing and generally enjoying the two
or so hour ride. They'd spend the whole day touring Mason City's
industries, taking in several plant and business tours with, of course,
a lunch break somewhere in the mix.
Old Renwick High School, known in later years as Boone Valley School, where the fatal field trip originated. The building now houses a hardware store/implement dealer |
Mason City Brick and Tile back in the 30s...this is the plant the bus was leaving when it was struck by The Kansas City Rocket. |
***
...and we'll, for the moment, leave them touring MCB&T
while we take a look at a little bit of Railroad history...trust me
it's both relevant and necessary.
...By the early Thirties railroads were the
way to move large amounts of both people and goods at high speed, and
the steam locomotive was absolute king.
Railroads,
however, were looking for more efficient and economical ways to move
said large amounts of goods and people than the steamer. Steam engines were high
maintenance beasts and needed lots of infrastructure to keep them
rolling. Electric locomotives were far more efficient, could haul
legitimate ass, and some railroads made good use of them...but they
required even more
infrastructure
that would need to be built with funds that, in the midst of The
Great Depression, weren't always available.
So, railroad executives took a long, hard look at both the gasoline powered rail cars that
were used on short lines, and the diesel powered switchers that had
been in use here and there since the early part of the decade. And, at some point as they examined them, someone had the thought 'HMMMM...if they took the diesel electric drive system in the
switchers, and made it bigger and more powerful, and put it in a
passenger locomotive.... HMMMMM.
Chins
were likely rubbed meaningfully in every railroad executive board
room in the land, and in 1934 the Burlington, Northern and Quincy
Railroad...better known to railroaders and rail-fans as 'The
Burlington...was the first to actually put the concept into practical use when
they developed, had built, and placed in service a streamlined,
stainless steel, articulated train-set they called 'The
Pioneer Zephyr'. While
a full description of this pretty amazing machine would be far too
long for this post, lets just say it was successful, and fast.
Like
REAL
fast. As in 'Denver to Chicago in just over 13 hours' fast, on it's inaugural trip in May of 1934.
That's an average speed of 77 or so Miles Per Hour. It was also a huge success, staying in service until 1960.
Now lets fast forward a few years to the Chicago, Rock
Island, and Pacific Railroad...better known as simply The Rock
Island. Their big revenue earner on their primarily Midwestern routes was freight...particularly
agricultural freight...and the
combination of The Great Depression, and the Great Dust Bowl hit them with
a double-whammy, reducing freight volume...and thus
profits... astronomically. As 1934 drew to a close, bankruptcy was looming like a malignant storm cloud just over the horizon
In 1935 the Rock Island gained a new CEO by the name of
Ed Durham, who hired a guy named John Farrington to act as what would likely be called Chief Operations Officer today. Farrington immediately set
about scrapping aging equipment, accumulating capital from then sale
of said old stuff, and using the capitol to modernize the Rock Island's operations. The Crown Jewels of this modernization
would be six semi-articulated streamliners pulled by EMC Diesel
locomotives, to be named 'Rockets'
Promotional painting of the Rockets used for advertising. |
These
trains looked radically different from The Zephyrs. The EMC
locomotives that were delivered in 1937 would have looked modern to
any kid, railroader, or rail fan of the 50s and 60s, with their
rounded nose, set back, full width cab, split windshield and slab
sides. The trains, like the Zephyrs, were semi-permanently coupled,
articulated train sets, and like the Zephyrs, they were fast,
but
the Rockets improved on the earlier streamliners...they were both more powerful
(A V16 diesel of 1200 HP V/S a V-8 of 600) and
more comfortable, featuring wide seats and cocktail bars. They were
also only semi-articulated, making them more practical. While the two or three coaches were
permanently coupled together, the locomotives and observation cars
were coupled to the trains using conventional couplings, so they could be used in other applications if needed.
There were six Rockets, and they were put in service on five routes, each train named after it's route.:
There were six Rockets, and they were put in service on five routes, each train named after it's route.:
The Texas Rocket
ran from Fort Worth to Houston, Texas.
The Rocky Mountain
Rocket ran from Kansas City, Missouri to Denver, Colorado.
The Peoria Rocket
ran from Chicago to Peoria, Illinois.
The Des Moines
Rocket ran from Chicago, Illinois to Des Moines, Iowa.
And, for this post, most
importantly...
The Kansas City
Rocket, which
ran two trains
daily from Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri.
The afternoon run from
Kansas City to Minneapolis is the run we're looking at...and this
brings us back to the kids at Mason City Brick and Tile...
***
The tour of Mason City Brick
and Tile probably took an hour or so, then the kids trooped out
of the building into the crisp fall air and climbed aboard the bus,
grabbing their seats. We all well know and remember the hierarchy of school
bus seating, whether it's a brand spanking new 2016 Thomas or Bluebird with all
the bells and whistles or an 80+ year old wooden bodied bus with
perimeter bench seating. The bus fills up from back to front. You
save a seat for your best friend. And of course your girlfriend. And,
to that end, fifteen year old Corwin Peer (Bet his friends called him
'Cor') held hands with pretty
sixteen year old LaVonne Helmke and the two of them walked to the
rear of the bus and plopped down in the last two seats on the right
side of the ride, giving each other those looks and smiles that have been
the proprietary domain of teenage couples from time eternal, Levonne likely giving Corwin a couple of those giggly, nose-crinkly little smiles that
girls have turned their boyfriends to putty with for centuries. Keep these two in mind.
The kids were probably getting tired, and they still had one more business to tour before setting out on the two hour ride that would put them back home in Renwick in time for a late supper, but they still had reserves of energy that only kids that age can boast of. They were laughing and joking and talking, and goofing off, and having a good old time. As I've noted, that's the primary purpose of a field trip from a kids-eye view. Sadly, their good time...and their lives...were about to be brutally shattered.
The kids were probably getting tired, and they still had one more business to tour before setting out on the two hour ride that would put them back home in Renwick in time for a late supper, but they still had reserves of energy that only kids that age can boast of. They were laughing and joking and talking, and goofing off, and having a good old time. As I've noted, that's the primary purpose of a field trip from a kids-eye view. Sadly, their good time...and their lives...were about to be brutally shattered.
“OK...if you guys are ready and are, I don't know, sitting down...can we go?' Renwick was a tiny town, and Rex Simpson had driven the bus for several years,...all the kids knew him and liked him, and a couple of good naturedly smart alec remarks...possibly alluding to their ride's near antique status...very likely followed. Simpson likely just shook his head equally good naturedly, dropped the bus into gear, let out the clutch, and eased away from the plant entrance as conversation and the effervescent energy of youth...that happy-go-lucky vibe that is the hallmark of any group of teens...filled the bus.
Simpson eased along the gravel road leading out of the plant, moving between piles of just-made bricks the size of buildings. The MCB&T plant was huge, covering about thirty acres and occupying several buildings. The building they'd just left was plant 3, and ahead of them was plant 4...the road they were on wound past that building before reaching the street that would take them to their final stop on the trip before heading home, but first they had to cross the Rock Island tracks, which bisected the plant property.
As they
wound around the huge pile of bricks, Simpson saw a set of tracks,
just beyond and hard by the huge brick-pile....
*
...Veteran
Rock Island Road engineer George Simpson (No relation to the bus
driver) considered himself a seriously blessed dude...he was one of
several lucky engineers who'd been anointed as Keepers of the Rocket,
so to speak. He'd taken classes and passed tests and ridden on check
rides to get qualified on the big, state-of-the-art EMC TA Series
diesel-electric locomotive, which was one of the few such noble
mechanical steeds in the nation at the time. Instead of sitting
in a semi open air cab leaning out of a side picture window with wind
and steam blasting him in the face so he could kind of see ahead of him, he sat in an adjustable seat in an enclosed, heated
cab, with excellent forward visibility through a wiper-equipped
car-like windshield. Behind him was the muted rumble of the big V-16
engine, and hum of the generator that powered the traction
motors, as well as one of the most modern trains in the country.
As
they approached Mason City, the Kansas City Rocket was
just about two thirds of the way through it's run from Kansas City to
Minneapolis, and they had a stop at Mason City. They would change
crews only ten miles further north...in Manly, Iowa...and the new
crew would take The Rocket on into Minneapolis, stay over night, then on the return trip
take it as far south as Manly, where Simpson's crew would take over
and take her south back to K.C.
The
Rocket was barely five
minutes behind schedule as it approached Mason City, identifiable
from a few miles out by the multiple smoke-stacks of Mason City
Brick and Tile, whose property The Rock Island main line cut right
through the middle of. Mason City's Rock Island rail depot was only a
mile or so beyond the plant. As they entered a long, sweeping curve
to the right, Simpson eased the throttle back, and gently applied the
service brakes, taking his time in bringing the Rocket down from her
customary cruising speed of 80 or so to a more sedate twenty-five
miles per hour. They passed the whistle board for the first of
several crossings...almost all private crossings on plant property...
ahead of them, and he reached up to the cab ceiling, grasped the end
of a lanyard, and started yanking it in the time-honored
long-long-short-long crossing warning signal. The horn's sound was
still a little strange
to him...rather than the melodic wail of a steam whistle it was the
deep, pissed-off-moose 'WOONK!! of an air horn.
In Mason
City, kids just getting out of school heard the distinctive
'WOOOONK-WOOOONK-
WONK-WOOOONK
of the Rocket's air
horn, and beat feet to the Rock Island right of way to watch the big,
bright red diesel and it's train of shining silver passenger cars
roll past. This was a major thrill for these kids. Though this sight is more than
commonplace to us today, and we don't give a diesel locomotive
pulling a train a second's thought (Unless we're late for work and
caught by it), in 1937 this was akin to watching the Shuttle
land...especially if you were, say, a ten year old boy, ten year old
boys (And some ten year old girls) being crazy about trains since
there have been
trains. Watching the Rocket
roll past as it eased into the Mason City depot, then maybe heading
down to the depot to get an up-close look at the latest in rail
travel, had become a daily ritual. Today, though, would be different...
The
Rocket passed another
whistle board as it started threading between MCB&T plants three
and four. There were always
huge piles of just-made bricks lining the tracks here, and Simpson
likely hated it...it was a safety hazard of the first magnitude.
These were unprotected, unguarded crossings, and the brick piles came
to within twenty feet or less of the crossing that he was rolling up
on. A driver had to stop with the front end of his car almost on top
of the tracks to see. If it was a bigger vehicle...Simpson left that thought unfinished, and eased the
throttle back another notch as they approached the huge pile of
bricks, and the train started slowing as several hundred tons of
momentum fought to keep it moving.
The
pile of bricks...actually several piles of bricks with narrow ally-ways between them... was huge. It was easily a couple of stories tall, and 150 feet on a side, and so close
to the tracks that his fireman actually gave a little involuntary
flinch as the rolled past the near end of it...and that's probably just about when the front
end of the bus rolled into view...and kept coming....
Simpson
instinctively reached up and yanked the brass brake handle all the
way back into emergency as he and his fireman let go with all but
involuntary curses. At 25 miles per hour or so, The Rocket
was rolling towards the crossing at thirty-seven
feet and change per second....Round that down to 35 feet per second,
and assume they were still a hundred feet from the crossing when the
bus popped into view, that gave Simpson just over three seconds to
see the bus, grab the brake handle, and yank it back into
emergency...even at only 25 mils per hour, it was a done deal even
before George Simpson lunged for the brake handle...
*
...The
same office-building-sized brick pile that was right on top of the
tracks was just as close to the road, and completely blocked any view
southward down the tracks until drivers were right on top of the
crossing. On top of that, there were a slew of railroad sidings
serving the plant, and the same road probably also crossed a couple
of them, so Rex Simpson very possibly thought he was rolling up on one of
the sidings as he approached the crossing.
On board
the bus, twenty plus exuberant teenagers were talking and laughing
and cutting up as teenagers are wont to do, probably blocking out the
Rocket's horn...Rex Simpson cleared the brick pile, and, while still
rolling towards the crossing, likely glanced left even as his front
bumper crossed the first rail...his eyes went round with surprised
fright and he desperately foot stabbed the brakes as he saw the front
end of The Rocket's locomotive bearing down on the bus...
...George
Simpson was actually looking down
at the roof of the bus as he yanked the brake handle back, then, as
the brakes grabbed and all of the Rocket's
wheels locked up, he saw the bus disappear beneath the Locomotive's
bright red bull-nose a micro-instant before he heard a solid
crunching -CRA-WHUMP as a cloud of broken glass and wood splinters
flew up in front of the windshield. Other objects...Oh GOD,it
was kids...went
tumbling and spinning out of the bus as it...
...Burst
like a dropped watermelon. The big diesel locomotive's front end
caught the bus just barely forward of directly amidships, snapping the
body's wooden frame as if it was made of Popsicle sticks and tearing the
thin metal side sheathing as if it was made if cardboard. The left
side of the bus, from the bottom of the window frames down, wrapped
around the front of the locomotive, while all of the rest of the
body, wooden interior sheathing, roof , and seats, blew apart in a
hail of splinters. The rear several feet of the body tore loose from
the chassis and tumbled, breaking apart and tossing kids free to land
near a second brick pile, it's occupants dazed and bruised, but for
the most part, alive...
...The
front half of the bus was a different story altogether. The occupants who were sitting at the point of impact were likely killed
instantly then thrown clear as the bus came apart explosively, a
couple of them landing
in front of the train.
The kids sitting in the right side seats...who had an instant to contemplate their fate when the left-side windows suddenly filled with red locomotive as they cleared the brick pile...were tossed clear as the right side tore away, taking the wooden interior sheathing and seats with it as the thin steel exterior sheathing rolled itself into a ball of mangled steel next to the tracks, A coupe of the kids fell in front of the train as they were ejected while others fell clear and rolled, a couple of them missing death by inches as the bus' shattered frame rails swept by above them, and the wheels of the locomotive passed by them so close that they could feel the heat and hear the rumble of the idling diesel over the scream of wheels against rails...
The kids sitting in the right side seats...who had an instant to contemplate their fate when the left-side windows suddenly filled with red locomotive as they cleared the brick pile...were tossed clear as the right side tore away, taking the wooden interior sheathing and seats with it as the thin steel exterior sheathing rolled itself into a ball of mangled steel next to the tracks, A coupe of the kids fell in front of the train as they were ejected while others fell clear and rolled, a couple of them missing death by inches as the bus' shattered frame rails swept by above them, and the wheels of the locomotive passed by them so close that they could feel the heat and hear the rumble of the idling diesel over the scream of wheels against rails...
The
kids, for the most part, literally never knew what hit them as the
train hit the bus almost the very second it emerged from behind the
brick pile. While some of the kids sitting on the right side of the bus
may have gotten a glimpse of the front end of the locomotive a
microsecond before it slammed into them, almost all of the
survivors said that all they knew is that one second, they were
talking, joking, and socializing and the next second there was a
sudden, violent crash, and they were outside
of the bus, flying through the air and landing next to the tracks.
Much like the Rockville crash two years earlier, by some
miracle of luck and physics, many of the survivors weren't badly
injured...this time, however it was the kids in the back of the bus who caught the miracles.
The rear six or eight feet of the bus body broke away from the rest of the bus and tumbled across the road, breaking apart like an egg shell as it did so. As it tumbled and came apart, the kids sitting on those perimeter benches were tossed clear..or more then likely, the bod broke apart around them. Corwin Peer and LeVonne Helmke were sitting in those last two right-hand seats, both were tossed clear as the rear end of the bus body tumbled and broke apart. One second Corwin was looking into LaVonne's eyes as she giggled at his antics, and the next he was rolling across the ground. He finally stopped rolling, pushed himself up and leaned back on his arms, realizing that, by some miracle, all he had were a few bruises. His immediate next thought was 'LaVonne!!!' He stood up, looking around and spotted her, also pushing her self up off of the ground, several feet away (She's OK!!!).
No probably to it even though it's not mentioned anywhere...LaVonne's next thought as she pushed herself to a sitting position was something like 'Oh my God...COR!!! and she looked around even as he made it to her in a couple of giant steps, reached down, and and helped her up...the two of them took quick stock of their injuries and realized that neither one of them had been badly injured. I have a feeling that a huge hug and tears took place at that instant. Then they started looking for their friends, helping other kids up, and quickly realized that not everyone aboard the bus had been as lucky as they were.
The rear six or eight feet of the bus body broke away from the rest of the bus and tumbled across the road, breaking apart like an egg shell as it did so. As it tumbled and came apart, the kids sitting on those perimeter benches were tossed clear..or more then likely, the bod broke apart around them. Corwin Peer and LeVonne Helmke were sitting in those last two right-hand seats, both were tossed clear as the rear end of the bus body tumbled and broke apart. One second Corwin was looking into LaVonne's eyes as she giggled at his antics, and the next he was rolling across the ground. He finally stopped rolling, pushed himself up and leaned back on his arms, realizing that, by some miracle, all he had were a few bruises. His immediate next thought was 'LaVonne!!!' He stood up, looking around and spotted her, also pushing her self up off of the ground, several feet away (She's OK!!!).
No probably to it even though it's not mentioned anywhere...LaVonne's next thought as she pushed herself to a sitting position was something like 'Oh my God...COR!!! and she looked around even as he made it to her in a couple of giant steps, reached down, and and helped her up...the two of them took quick stock of their injuries and realized that neither one of them had been badly injured. I have a feeling that a huge hug and tears took place at that instant. Then they started looking for their friends, helping other kids up, and quickly realized that not everyone aboard the bus had been as lucky as they were.
Fifteen
year old Robert Opedahl was another student who had been sitting in
the rear of the bus...he glimpsed the front end of the locomotive
just as it hit them, then the next thing he knew he was on the
ground...as he told investigators 'I must have been knocked out for a
few minutes'. He pulled himself to his feet...also suffering only
minor injuries... and started walking towards the crossing...in short
order he ran up on the bodies of both the vocational class teacher
and the English teacher who'd chaperoned the trip, as well as Rex
Simpson, who was being administered to by Vern Mott...
...Mason
City coal dealer Vern Mott had gone to the plant for a meeting of
some kind, and was on his
way out in his own car, following a hundred or so feet behind the bus. When the bus drew abreast
of the near end of the brick pile, Mott was still a hundred feet away
from it, with a clear view of
the tracks. And, as the sole occupant of his car, he didn't have
twenty-some teenagers making
noise, so he heard the Rocket's horn...he looked towards the south to
see the distinctive,
bright red bull-nose of The Rocket's engine rolling towards the brick
pile. He watched it's approach, admiring it's
clean lines for a second before he looked in front of him, at the bus
again...the bus was still moving.
Surely whoever was driving the thing heard the Rocket's horn...he's got to be stopping!!! No...wait...
The bus bounced as the front wheels bumped across the first rail. 'Oh dear God!!!' He yelled to himself, foot-stabbing his own brakes as the rounded nose of the diesel locomotive appeared from behind the pile of bricks and buried itself in the side of the bus with an explosive 'CRA-WHUMP!, blowing the bus body apart as if a bomb had gone off in it, and tossing kids out as if they were shrapnel. He watched in horror as the engine ripped free and bounced away as the chassis and left side of the bus wrapped themselves around the nose of the locomotive, the right side of the bus wadding up like a balled up piece of foil and tumbling aside as well. The rest of the bus body was nothing more than a mass of shattered splinters.
Mott watched in stunned disbelief for a couple of instants as as the chassis rode the nose of the locomotive, shedding parts as it was dragged for nearly five hundred feet, then bailed out of his car
even before the Rocket shuddered to a stop. MCB&T
employees...alerted by the crash..met him as they ran towards the scene. Mott didn't
have far to run before he ran up on the first victim...a teenage boy, who was lying across one of the
rails, his body cut in two by the Rocket's wheels. That horrible scene burned itself indelibly into his brain, then he heard a
grown man sobbing and looked to see the driver, Rex Simpson, curled
up next to the tracks. The bus driver had been tossed clear by the collision...but
not before bouncing off of the front end of the Rocket's
locomotive then, likely, getting dragged several yards by the bus as it
rode the front of the locomotive. It was instantly obvious to
Mott..who reached Simpson about the same time as some of the
passengers and train crew...that Simpson, suffering
massive internal injuries, was dying. He was. however, conscious and kept
repeating 'Oh God...I didn't see it...'
One
of the train crew ran to a near-by house, asked if there was a phone,
and was likely told that yes there was, and that help was already on
the way, and sure enough, they could already hear the wail of approaching sirens. Mason
City's fire department had been fully paid, operating out of a single
station, since 1909. The station was also the city hall complex, and
the alarm room was in the same building, so when the bells hit and
the guys started sliding the poles and heading for the rigs, they
knew what they had...one of the dispatchers likely opened the door
out to the bay and yelled something like 'Bus hit by a
train, guys!!!' to be
answered by the shift's officer in charge telling him 'Get us some
help on the way...heavy on the ambulances!!!
If the dispatcher was one of the good ones, his reply was likely something to the effect of 'One ahead of ya,
already!
Whether
the ambulance service was hospital based, funeral home based, or even
that very rare gem of that era, a fire department ambulance, the
dispatchers were wearing their fingers out dialing the phone, calling
every number on their list under 'Ambulances', and a couple of dozen
of them were soon on the way from both Mason City and surrounding
communities. Meanwhile, the train crewman called the Rock Island
division headquarters ten miles away, in Manly, and reported the
accident. The train dispatchers started making the calls they
dreaded...to the ICC, Rock Island's corporate headquarters, and the
dozens of other notifications that needed to be made even as a
question they may have asked themselves only minutes ago was likely
answered...where Manley's ambulance was heading when it blew past only a couple of minutes
earlier,
siren screaming, headed for Mason City .
There is
little or nothing on-line about MCFD's actions at the scene, ditto
the various ambulance crews, but, with the miraculous lack of serious
injuries, I have a feeling that the injured were transported pretty
quickly...even the few serious to critical injuries were loaded and
transported quickly as 1937 was still deeply in the era of
'Pre-hospital Care equals Ambulance With Big Engine And Lead-Footed
Driver'. In other words there was no actual prehospital care
other than splinting and bandaging, and attempting to stop bleeding. The injured kids were quickly placed on a stretcher, loaded, and transported.
We have to keep one thing in mind about all of these early accidents (Of alll kinds...not just train-school bus accidents) There was no true pre-hospital care at all. The EMS mantra of 'Airway, Airway, Airway' wasn't a mantra yet. Spinal Immobilization? T'warnt none. Back Board??...that's what's behind the basket in basketball, right? Serious trauma patients,were two strikes down with the third strike coming in over the plate if they weren't real close to a hospital.
We have to keep one thing in mind about all of these early accidents (Of alll kinds...not just train-school bus accidents) There was no true pre-hospital care at all. The EMS mantra of 'Airway, Airway, Airway' wasn't a mantra yet. Spinal Immobilization? T'warnt none. Back Board??...that's what's behind the basket in basketball, right? Serious trauma patients,were two strikes down with the third strike coming in over the plate if they weren't real close to a hospital.
At least in Mason City the great majority of the survivors suffered only minor injuries, and the transports were short...Mason City had two hospitals, Mercy and Park, both only a couple of miles form the scene...so the patients were in Emergency Rooms with-in minutes of being loaded into an ambulance.
The
crews who transported patients were the lucky ones...like all of
these crashes, this was a truly horrible scene to work. Bodies were
mangled, and dismembered, often beyond recognition, and had to be
left in place as the initial parts of the investigation kicked off
before being taken to a morgue, probably at one of the hospitals.
There was reportedly blood all over the scene, even after the bodies
were removed, for days afterward.
Word
of the accident made it back to Renwick almost as quickly as it did
to the ICC, and car loads of parents made the sixty mile trip to
Mason City to search for their kids. Back in the day, when fire
departments had to deal with what's now called a 'Mass Casualty Incident',
or 'MCI' there was little or no documentation as to where any given
patient was transported. The patients were just loaded in an
ambulance...often two or three at a time...and the ambo driver then
hauled ass to the hospital. This, of course, meant that officials,
when approached by frantic parents, had no clue which hospital their
kids were taken to, making for a heart-rending, frantic, frustrating
search. This, in fact, is a problem that hasn't been fully solved to this day.
As noted above, Mason
City had two hospitals at the time...Park and Mercy...and all of the
injured were transported to one of those two hospitals. The kids with
the worst injuries were taken to Park, while the lesser injured went
to Mercy. The parents arrived in Mason City in force (I can only hope
that the bodies and, even worse, parts of bodies had been at least
covered if not removed before they got there) and went on that frantic search that's
so much a part of this type of cataclysmic accident. And, just like
the Rockville crash, for the most part they either had the weight of
a house lifted off of their shoulders when they found their
kids...bandaged, slightly battered, but alive...or devastating grief
when they found that their children had died.
Of
course this time the families of the driver and two teachers also
lost a loved one. Also, not all of the patients in the two hospitals survived...fifteen year old Lillian Cedar, suffering from a skull
fracture, died at Park Hospital the day after the accident. Rex
Simpson died on the way to the hospital.
Statements
were taken from the train crew, and, after a couple of wreckers
removed the mangled bus chassis from the front of the locomotive, The
Rocket was allowed to proceed to Manly, where the new crew took
over as planned. Though it wasn't stated anywhere, and I, sadly,
couldn't find the ICC report for this one, I have a feeling that, at
the very least, Engineer George Simpson was asked to return to Mason
City, or at least to get in contact with ICC investigators, so he could give them a statement.
Thing
is, this was probably one of the easiest investigations that the ICC
(Or it's successor, the NTSB, for that matter) ever had to tackle...all
any of the investigators had to do was look at the driver's sight-line at the
crossing. Not only was the sight-line screwed up, there, basically,
was no sight-line. The view south down the tracks was
completely hidden from drivers exiting the plant until they
were, very literally, right on top of the crossing, and train crews
couldn't see vehicles approaching the crossing at all, until they
were all but on the tracks.
This was a failing of both the railroad and, even more so, MCB&T. I mean, come on...you can't tell me that the people who had to use that crossing daily didn't, when the brick pile grew high and large enough to hide the tracks, think to themselves 'This is an accident just waiting to happen'. And, of course, they were proven right. I have to wonder, had enough people...or maybe the right people... pointed this out to MCB&T's management, if something could or would have been done about the hazard, but that, of course, is a tragically moot point. No one did say anything, or if they did they were ignored. As result, ten people died...seven teens with their entire lives ahead of them, along with two dedicated teachers, and a well liked bus driver who was said to actually be a very competent and safe driver, died.
This was a failing of both the railroad and, even more so, MCB&T. I mean, come on...you can't tell me that the people who had to use that crossing daily didn't, when the brick pile grew high and large enough to hide the tracks, think to themselves 'This is an accident just waiting to happen'. And, of course, they were proven right. I have to wonder, had enough people...or maybe the right people... pointed this out to MCB&T's management, if something could or would have been done about the hazard, but that, of course, is a tragically moot point. No one did say anything, or if they did they were ignored. As result, ten people died...seven teens with their entire lives ahead of them, along with two dedicated teachers, and a well liked bus driver who was said to actually be a very competent and safe driver, died.
Of course we can't blame all of this on MCB&T's unfortunate placement of outside storage. Rex Simpson (Broken record time again) just drove onto the
tracks without looking, which is never a good idea. OK, I hear
you guys...'Wait, Rob...he couldn't see the tracks...'
And you're right...he couldn't see
down the tracks. But
he could see the crossing in front of him. He could, and should, have
taken what ever action was needed, up to and including stopping the
bus and asking one of the kids to step out and take a look up the
tracks, for him. (A policy that was put in place in Utah after the
Sandy bus accident, and in rural school districts nation-wide after
the Evans bus crash).
Even
if he thought the crossing was one of the many sidings that served
the plant, he still should have stopped...remember, The Rocket
wasn't doing but about 25 mph, and maybe less, when it hit the bus,
which was old, wood framed, and as fragile as china when involved
with a collision with anything much bigger than a baseball. Getting
hit by a switch engine would have likely been just as devastating as
getting hit by a train on the main line. As
I noted above, and as seems to be the case in just about all
of theses accidents, Rex was considered to be very competent, very
safe, and he was well liked and well respected by the kids who rode
his bus. the only problem is, no matter how competent and safe you are, it doesn't
take but one momentary lapse in judgement or attention, one mistake, to wipe that sterling record out and cause a
tragedy.
It
still amazes me more than a little that, with the major train-school
bus accidents piling up and the death toll from them rising, it still
took more than two decades for State laws requiring school bus
drivers to stop at railroad crossings to be federally mandated.
When such laws were
finally put in place, it was said by many...and especially by
legislators pontificating after they were on the books... that 'Every
one of these accidents added a little bit of impetus to passing laws
that insured the safety of Our Nations Children when riding to and
from school.
Only
thing is, I have a feeling that this was little comfort to the
parents who lost children, the kids who lost friends, and the
families of the two teachers and Rex Simpson.
************************************************************************************
************************************************************************************
List of those who died in the accident.
Rex Simpson, 35, driver of the bus.
Lauren Morton, 29, teacher.
Miss Dorothy Ross, 24, teacher.
Patsy Turner, 16, student.
Donald Amosson, 15, student.
Norman A. Eggerth, 15, student.
Lowell Kelling, 15, student.
Albert Siemans, 16, student.
James Bell, 15, student.
Lillian Cedar, 15, student.
Miss Dorothy Ross, 24, teacher.
Patsy Turner, 16, student.
Donald Amosson, 15, student.
Norman A. Eggerth, 15, student.
Lowell Kelling, 15, student.
Albert Siemans, 16, student.
James Bell, 15, student.
Lillian Cedar, 15, student.
*************************************************************************************
<***>Notes,
Links, and Stuff<***>
The other posts in this series
in the order they were posted.
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/evans-colorado-bustrain-crash.html Evans, Colo December 1961
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/spring-city-tenn-bustrain-crash.html Spring City Tenn. August 1955
March 1972
October 1971
August 1976
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/fox-river-grove-illinois-bustrain-crash.htm Fox River Grove Illinois October 1995
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/conasauga-tennesee-bustrain-crash.html Conasauga Tenn. March 2000
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/sandy-utah-bus-train-crashthe-worst.html Sandy, Utah Dec 1938
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/proberta-california-train-bus-crash.html Proberta, California Nov 1921
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/02/shreve-ohio-and-berea-ohio-school.html Shreve and Berea Ohio Jan. 1930
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/crescent-city-florida-trainschool-bus.html Crescent City, Florida December 1933
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/rockville-md-train-bus-crash-april-11th.html Rockville, Maryland April 1935
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/mason-city-iowa-bus-train-crash.html MAson City, Iowa Oct. 1937
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/eads-tennessee-trainschool-bus-crash.html Eads, Tennessee Oct. 1941
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/sandy-utah-bus-train-crashthe-worst.html Sandy, Utah Dec 1938
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/proberta-california-train-bus-crash.html Proberta, California Nov 1921
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/02/shreve-ohio-and-berea-ohio-school.html Shreve and Berea Ohio Jan. 1930
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/crescent-city-florida-trainschool-bus.html Crescent City, Florida December 1933
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/rockville-md-train-bus-crash-april-11th.html Rockville, Maryland April 1935
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/mason-city-iowa-bus-train-crash.html MAson City, Iowa Oct. 1937
http://disasteroushistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/eads-tennessee-trainschool-bus-crash.html Eads, Tennessee Oct. 1941
<***>
This is another one that I
really thought there'd be a little more info online about than there
actually was. I would have really
liked to have had the ICC report for this one, but it just wasn't to
be. Oh, I was even able to find the ICC report number...but searching
that very same number yielded, at best, a couple of dead links. It
just wasn't gonna happen.
I did
find a couple of good newspaper articles about the accident, as well
as both another blog post and a second genealogy site that gave me
the names of victims and participants, some of the accident details, and a decent
personal interest angle. But this is still one that I wish I
could have found more info on if for no other reason that it was the
very first major loss of life grade crossing accident involving a
diesel locomotive.
Sometimes
though, I'm already behind the eight-all before I even start when I'm
working on one of these posts, and I think this was one of them. Of
course, as I've noted before, the further back you go, the less
likely it is you're going to find much on any given incident unless
it's truly infamous, truly legendary, or really unusual. and even
then, sometimes there's less info than you'd expect.
This is
especially true for motor vehicle accidents if, for no other reason,
because they were (And still are) so common. Back in the day it
wasn't that uncommon for a two car accident to kill five or more
people because of lack of safety equipment and less than stellar
highways. (Sadly, we seem to be swinging back in that direction despite loads of built-in safety and far better highways
than existed even thirty years ago).
But I
digress...I had to do a bit of speculating on this one, but I always
do. I hope made it informative, and a good read while I was at it.
So...On
to the notes!
<***>
When
the Rocket went in service, there were already several other diesel
powered streamliners in service throughout the country, and they
were racking up one statistic that wasn't
made known to the public, that stat being the number of vehicles that
were being struck at grade crossings.
There was a reason that the streamliners
were being involved in so many grade crossing accidents, and it was,
simply put, because they were diesels. Before the first
streamliner...the legendary Pioneer Zephyr...went in service in 1934,
the great majority of road locomotives were steam engines, with a few
electric locomotives thrown into the mix.
Motorists were used to looking for the moving column of
smoke that marked the head end of oncoming trains, and that was,
during the day, often visible well before the train itself came into
view. In several instances, when the vehicles driver survived the
collision with a diesel powered streamliner, they claimed that they didn't realize a train was coming because they didn't see any smoke. Also, the diesel locomotive's
air horn sounded nothing like a steam locomotive's whistle (Note
here...back then the air horns of diesel locomotives were single
chime horns, which sounded more like a truck horn than what we think
of as a train horn.) and it's not at all impossible to conceive of a
driver not familiar with the sound of a streamliner's air horn
wondering just what the heck he was hearing and not realizing it was
a train.
Interestingly enough, in areas served by electric
locomotives...the Pennsylvania Railroad's iconic GG-1 comes instantly
to mind...motorists were far more familiar with the
sound of a locomotive air horn as the GG-1 (And other electric
locomotives in use in the Northeastern United States ) used the same
air horns that were installed on Diesel locomotives.
Though grade crossing accidents involving the new
stream-liners were unusually common during the first several years
they were in service, the Mason City bus crash was the first major
loss of life accident involving a diesel locomotive. Sadly, it
wouldn't be the last.
<***>
The proliferation of grade crossing accidents involving
diesel locomotives had been seen as a problem well before the Mason
City crash, and railroad executives as well as Government regulators
probably burned a few barrels of midnight oil and scratched their
chins raw trying to come up with a solution to the problem.
One of the biggest factors in the number of collisions
was thought to be the lack of that moving smoke column to give
drivers a heads-up that a train was coming. Just between all of you
and me, I think that was a huge oversimplification of the
problem...the real problem was drivers not paying attention, a
problem that had been worked on since railroads came into being, but
it was also a problem that they could at least try do something about. Something had to be developed to take the place of the smoke column as an
attention getting device.
Enter a Chicago firefighter named Jerry Kennely, who was
assigned as the driver on one of CFD's truck companies. Like
apparatus drivers world wide he was frustrated by motorists who
seemingly ignored his rig's lights and sirens. He often used the
rig's spotlight, sweeping it side to side, to grab other drivers'
attention. This was, in fact,a very effective trick, but he often
needed a third hand to do it, so he rigged a windshield wiper motor
to the spotlight.
Now, Frank Mars...of Mars Candy Company fame...was not
only creator of various and sundry well loved candy bars, he was
also a fire buff of the first magnitude. And he lived in Chicago. And
he'd seen Jerry's motor equipped spot light in action. So he visited
the station Jerry was assigned to, had a talk with him, ideas were
exchanged, patents obtained, and The Mars Light was born. And yes,
the first ones were indeed made at The Mars Candy Company.
The Mars Light was (And is) an oscillating warning light
with the light moving in a 'Figure 8' pattern, and it became a huge
hit with the fire service...and wouldn't ya know that, shortly after
the Mason City crash, an executive of The Rock Island Line saw a
Chicago fire rig running a fire call, noted the Mars Light, and
thought 'HMMMM'.
So more meetings were arranged, a larger test light was
fabricated and installed on a freight locomotive, and knocked it out
of the park. Now, I'm having to leave a lot of stuff out here...this
is, after all, just a note...but Patents were obtained for the
railroad version of the light, and some of the first installations
were on the EMD TA series locomotives on the Rockets. I have a
feeling that crossing accidents decreased by at least a little because
of that oscillating white beam.
A video, courtesy of the Colorado Railroad Museum, of a Mars light in action on former Rio Grande R.R. F9 Diesel locomotive #5771...the last of these classic locomotives in service with the Rio Grande. It shows the light's effectiveness very handily, as well as showing why the light...in both Railroad and Emergency Vehicle warning light applications...is known as the 'Mars 888'. Look at the pattern the moving light's throwing against the trees at about fifty seconds into the video. Interestingly enough, the original installations of the Mars Lights, on the Rockets, was the reverse of this one, On the Rockets' EMC locomotives the Mars Light was below, rather than above, the primary headlight, as shown below.
The Kansas City Rocket at the station, some time after the Mason City accident, in Wichita, showing the locomotive's Mars light installation. |
Several other companies got in on the act, most notably Pyle National with their Gyralite, which used a reflector that oscillated in a circular pattern and was first installed on locomotives in 1948, but Mars was the original, the best known, the only one whose lights used that very very effective (And patented) '888' pattern and the only one that supplied warning lights to both railroads and the fire service. They also had the coolest slogan of the bunch ('The Light From Mars').
Mars is still around...very much so in fact...as a
subsidiary of Tri Lite Corporation, and their lights are still
installed on fire apparatus and locomotives to this day. And trust
me, they are uber-effective. Chesterfield, Petersburg, and
Richmond Virginia have all used Mars Lights on their fire rigs at one time or
the other, and in the days before LED lights, when there were fewer
front-facing warning lights on the rigs, you noticed the Mars Light well
before you noticed the others.
As for locomotive Mars Lights...they are both bigger and
brighter than the FD warning lights, and were some of the most
effective warning lights ever installed on locomotives. Sometimes you
could see that oscillating beam for miles before the train actually
hove into view. And there's very little cooler looking than watching
a Mars Light equipped locomotive approaching a crossing in light rain
or fog. Both Mars Lights and Gyralites are still manufactured and
installed on locomotives, but both are, sadly, passing to the
wayside as they are replaced by less expensive...and in most peoples'
opinions less effective... alternating ditch lights.
. Of course, all the warning lights in the world
wouldn't have prevented the Mason City crash, but if the Mars Lights
and Gyralites prevented even one driver from driving in front of an
oncoming train in the years after that accident, they proved their
worth.
<***>
I posted this as a note in the Rockville Md post, but, as both that accident and the Mason City accident involved high school kids, it bears noting here as well...so again, I'll mention the lack of a 12th grade in that era. I have a sneaking
suspicion that several readers have picked up on the fact that none
of the kids on the bus, most of whom were seniors, had reached the
age of 17 yet, despite the fact that the accident happened in October, very soon after the start of the school year. There's a reason
for this, of course. In 1937, there was no 12th
grade, and kids were 16 (And sometimes 15, depending on where during the year their birthday fell ) when they reluctantly dragged themselves out of bed on the first day of their senior year and 17 (And occasionally 16, ditto) when they marched in to the auditorium
or onto the football field to the strains of 'Pomp and Circumstance'.
This, of course, also meant that the four years of high
school...Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior...were each pushed
back a year, making eighth grade the Freshman year of high school.
This changed in 1941, when the 12th grade was
added in the great majority of school systems nationwide. This, of
course, meant that everyone who started the 1939-40 school year off
in one of the four years of high school suddenly found themselves
with an extra year of high school ahead of them. The 1939 11th
grade class would have graduated as the class of '40, and would have
been the last 11th grade class to be seniors. This also
meant that there wasn't a class of 1941, because the rising 11th
graders were now Juniors, and there was no actual Senior class. Ninth
grade became the Freshman class, and eighth grade was knocked back to
being the last year of junior high.
I don't know what would have been worse...being in 10th grade in 39-40, thinking 'Next year's my last year'...and suddenly having two more years to go before you graduate, or being in 8th grade in '39-40, and having to spend two years as a Freshman!
I don't know what would have been worse...being in 10th grade in 39-40, thinking 'Next year's my last year'...and suddenly having two more years to go before you graduate, or being in 8th grade in '39-40, and having to spend two years as a Freshman!
<***>
Back during the Thirties (And, as the video I'm getting ready to post notes, for many years afterwards) Renwick Independent School gave it's students and faculty, and the citizens of Renwick (All 432 strong back in 1937) a real treat on the last day of school. They packed all of the kids and teachers onto buses and cars and headed to a local park for food, fun, ball games, and a general awesome time...a day that was looked forward to all year and the kind of laid back, fun filled day that, sadly, has become a thing of the past in our hectic world today.
We're interested in one particular last-day picnic, though. The one that occurred om May 21, 1937, just five months before the Mason City bus accident. One of the participants filmed that year's picnic using a very early home movie camera, and watching the film we see that kids really haven't changed that much when it comes to the art of 'Having Fun', but we also see something else...some of the last pics, moving or still, taken of some of these kids.
Early in the video one of the narrators notes that it can't be any later than 1937 because of the people included in the video...though he doesn't state it, he's referring, at least in part, to the fact that several of the kids seen in the video were killed in the bus crash only five months later. One of the victims...sixteen year old Patsy Turner...is, in fact, identified by the female narrator, walking with a group of her friends, at 2:21 into the clip. Several of the other kids seen in the video, though not identified by name as being involved in the accident,, were either killed or injured in the crash. And everyone in the video knew everyone who was on that bus.
Early in the video one of the narrators notes that it can't be any later than 1937 because of the people included in the video...though he doesn't state it, he's referring, at least in part, to the fact that several of the kids seen in the video were killed in the bus crash only five months later. One of the victims...sixteen year old Patsy Turner...is, in fact, identified by the female narrator, walking with a group of her friends, at 2:21 into the clip. Several of the other kids seen in the video, though not identified by name as being involved in the accident,, were either killed or injured in the crash. And everyone in the video knew everyone who was on that bus.
Early on in the video, you see a kid in a white shirt who's bursting with energy waving at the camera as he runs across the frame...the very same kid seen waving at the camera on the right side of the still frame for the video.That's Corwin Peer (His cousin's the film's female narrator, BTW). Speaking of Corwin, as well as his girlfriend...
<***>
There was a tiny bright speck of light amid all the
tragedy at Mason City...but it took a few years for anyone to realize
it.
Remember Corwin Peer and LaVonne Helmke? The teenage
couple who grabbed the last two seats at the back of the bus?
Remember Corwin thinking, first and foremost of his girlfriend as he
regained consciousness after getting ejected in the accident?
The two of them dated all the way through high school,
and got married on New Years Eve, 1942. They lived a long, fruitful
life, and were married for sixty-four years...Corwin passed away on
Jan 16th 2006, and LaVonne passed away just under three
years later, on Jan 1, 2009, a day after the 66th
anniversary of her and Cor's (Again...you just know that was
his nickname, right up to the day he died) marriage.
<***>LINKS<***>
Wasn't that much on-line about the Mason City accident, but at least one of the links was a pretty awesome blog for car enthusiasts...
Blog post about the Mason City that also goes into detail about the history of the Rock Island Rockets as well as early streamliners in general. The video I posted is also posted here. 'Throwing Wrenches' is an absolutely awesome blog if you're a car nut, BTW...when you finish the post about the bus crash, check out the rest of the blog. Be warned though...you'll end up in front of your computer reading for a few hours!
http://iagenweb.org/cerrogordo/news/1937train_bus_wreck.htm An article from an Iowa History and genealogy site that also bears exploring if you like history.
I grew up in Mason City, and I remember the Brick and Tile plant very clearly, as well as the layout of the yard, the tracks, the road and street configuration, the two hospitals (Park later became Memorial, and later still joined with Mercy and is now Mercy-North Iowa Medical Center.) Renwick High School merged with two neighboring districts into Boone Valley Community Schools and disbanded in 1987. Mason City's tallest building was, and is, the 8-story Brick and Tile Building, so named after it was purchased by the company in 1947, and it retains that name today, though it has changed hands twice since then. I had several friends whose fathers worked at Brick and Tile, which itself went out of business in the 1970's and was gradually phased out and demolished. My own father worked for the Rock Island railroad for several years. Yet I had NEVER heard of this terrible incident until about one year ago! It was basically forgotten, apparently so tragic and unspeakable that it was never spoken of. That shouldn't be; when people choose to forget, they fail to remember - and then, they make the same mistakes that led to this tragedy in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI spent a summer in 2006 doing an internship in Mason City and my parents grew up somewhat close to this high school, yet I had never heard of this accident. I looked at the Historic Aerials website, which has very detailed satellite views of Iowa dating back to the 1930's, and I think the brick factory must have been a little north of the location you indicate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. My great aunt was Patsy Turner. My mom says Patsy's parents (my great grandparents) never recovered from the grief and shock of the tragedy. I really appreciated seeing the film clip with Patsy in it. Thanks again.
ReplyDeletegreat post.
ReplyDelete1st State Bank of Mason City
My aunt, Laura Janes, was a survivor of this horrific tragedy. I find blaming the kids for distracting the bus driver highly offensive. It was his job to be able to focus no matter what, especially at a RR crossing. As I understand it, the bus driver was cautioned more than once about about this blind crossing. That being said, Laura, age 14, was sitting next to Patty Turner on the one side and I don't know the name of the girl on the other side, but both were killed. Looking at what was left of that 1920s wood framed bus, it is a miracle anyone survived. Laura suffered shock and abrasions but also suffered with lifelong back pain. Laura went on to become an RN and served in the Phillipines during WWII. She returned to Renwick and raised 2 children. If you have read above about the couple who went on to marry and raise a family, the tragedy of those who did not survive is made clear. Marriages that didn't happen, children who weren't born, parents, grandparents and siblings left to grieve the loss and yet no memorial to those lives cut short. I was in Mason City 2 days ago searching for the spot in which this happened. A man named Ron from a Mason City Geneology group helped but there is nothing there. It has been several years since this blog was created and do appreciate it greatly. Rob, if you are still available, please contact me at
ReplyDeleterldiercks@gmail.com
at your earliest convenience.
Rob
ReplyDeleteAre you still out there?
There was another Renwick tragedy involving a train in 1964