1906 — Oct 28, train derails in tidal channel at open drawbridge, Atlantic City, NJ    –57-62

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-7-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–57-62  Blanchard.

Our reading of the sources below leads us to believe that the death toll was 57. However, the Jersey City News article below (Nov 11), writes that “The railroad officials say the total death list is sixty-two.” It then notes that others thought the death toll was higher, with bodies swept out by a heavy tide or buried in mud. In our experience rarely does an official source exaggerate a death toll. Thus we feel obliged to consider that this may have been accurate, which explains our adoption of a death toll range of 57-62.

—     62  Anaconda Standard, MT. “General Chronology of Events…Year,” 12-30-1906, p. 34.

—     62  Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1907. “General Chronology of 1906,” October, p. 605.

—     62  Jersey City News, NJ. “Wrecked Cars All Lifted.” 11-1-1906, p. 1, col. 4.[1]

—   ~60  New Brunswick Home News, NJ. “Saw Train Go Down.” 11-2-1906, p. 7.

—     58  Washington Post. “Death Roll is Now 58,” Oct 31, 1906, p. 11.

—     57  Bianculli. Iron Rails in the Garden State: Tales of New Jersey Railroading, 2008, p126.[2]

—     57  Reed, R.C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on…Main Line. 1968, p. 100.

–53-57  Warren. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019.

—     57  Wikipedia. List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).

—     53  Haine, Edgar. Railroad Wrecks, p. 31.

—     53  Wikipedia. “1906 Atlantic City train wreck.” 4-16-2025 edit.[3]

 Narrative Information

 Reed: “America’s most deadly drawbridge accident struck the Pennsylvania Railroad at Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 28, 1906.  Fifty-seven were drowned.”  (Reed, R.C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. 1968, 100.)

Warren. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019:

Atlantic County: Bridge wreck. On October 28, 1906, a West Jersey and Seashore Railroad train plunged off a bridge and sent three cars into the Beach Thorofare in Atlantic City. The accident left between 53 and 57 people dead, according to the Press of Atlantic City.”

Wikipedia: “On a Sunday afternoon, a newly-electrified Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails as it begins to cross a drawbridge over a deep tidal channel as it approaches Atlantic City at forty miles per hour. The equipment bumps along the ties for 150 feet (46 m) before departing the bridge and plunging into deep water. Fifty-seven die in what will remain the worst U.S. drawbridge accident until the Newark Bay commuter tragedy of September 15, 1958.”  (Wikipedia.  List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950))

Newspapers

Oct 30, Washington Post: “Atlantic City, N.J., Oct 30 – The contention of Coroner Gaskill that a number of persons who lost their lives in the electric train wreck on the Thoroughfare bridge may be buried in the mud where the cars plunged was borne out late today when the bodies of…[three females] were recovered from under the third car.

“The finding of these bodies increases the official identified dead to 51, and the total number of bodies recovered to 54. There are still known to be among the dead the bodies of…[four people], which makes the certain number of dead in the wreck 58, there still remaining at various mortuaries three unclaimed bodies….

“Aside from the search for the bodies, interest now centers on the inquest, which will be held by Coroner Gaskill on Thursday morning.  While he will not express an opinion before the inquiry as to the cause of the accident, it appears from his statement made this afternoon that he is convinced that the bridge on which the accident occurred is not as it should be, and may have to be rebuilt.

“The central figures in the inquiry on Thursday will probably be Daniel Stewart, the old bridge tender, and John Spiker, the tower man, who operates the signals. Stewart declares positively that he locked the draw properly after the schooner yacht Sinbad passed through, and the railroad officials say that in any event the signal for safety would not have been set when the train came along had the rails not been right.  John Spiker, the tower man, said he got the signal from the tender that they were all right and gave the train a clear track.” (Washington Post.  “Death Roll is Now 58,” Oct 31, 1906, p. 11.)

Nov 1, Trenton Evening Times, NJ: “Atlantic City, Nov 1. That the forward car of the electric train wrecked on the drawbridge over Thoroughfare Creek on Sunday was the first to leave the tracks was testified to at the Coroner’s Inquest begun before a Jury today to determine the cause of the accident by James H Curtis conductor of the ill-fated train. Curtis also declared that the train was running at between fifteen and twenty miles an hour when it was wrecked. The speed limit for crossing the bridge he said is twenty-five miles an hour.

“Similar testimony to the effect that the forward car left the rails first was offered by George B. McCollough. He was fishing near the draw bridge. He saw the right wheels of the forward car jump as though they had struck something. Then the car toppled to one side careened toward the edge of the bridge and went into the water. Previous to the opening of the hearing, Senator E. S. Lee, foreman of the jury which is hearing the testimony caused a sensation by denying statements attributed to him which were printed in a Philadelphia evening newspaper to the effect that the railroad company would be held blameless for the wreck.

“Senator Lee declared every statement an absolute falsehood, saying he knew as little as anyone about the causes of the accident and had not even expressed an opinion in regard to the matter to members of his family. ‘This is a serious matter of world-wide interest,’ said Senator Lee, ‘and the public may rest assured it will be treated fairly.’….

“Conductor Curtis, after testifying that the first car had jumped the rails, was questioned in regard to the number of passengers aboard. He said there had been ninety-five passengers in all on the train. Ten or twelve of these, however, got off at Pleasantville. He fixed the number in the cars when they went off the bridge at 82. Curtis said he escaped from the car in which he was riding by breaking a window. When the car struck the water, he declared, it righted itself and floated a moment before it went down. Curtis denied a story circulated by Theodore Lawrence to the effect that the brakes on the rear car were out of order.

“Brakeman Ralph B. Wood said there were between 60 and 65 passengers aboard the wrecked train.  Seven or eight persons got out of the last car.”  (Trenton Evening Times, NJ.  “Wreck Inquest is Being Held Today at Atlantic City,” 11-1-1906, p. 1.)

Sources

Anaconda Standard, MT. “General Chronology of Events During This Year,” 12-30-1906, p. 34. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=54805955

Bianculli, Anthony J. “Catastrophe at the Thoroughfare (1906).” Pp. 125-127 in Iron Rails in the Garden State: Tales of New Jersey Railroading. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008. Accessed 5-7-2025 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=oif8ddRyYMcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=1906&f=false

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1907.  “General Chronology of 1906,” January, p. 602.  Digitized by Google.  Accessed at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=MMUWAAAAYAAJ

Haine, Edgar. Railroad Wrecks. NY, London and Toronto: Cornwall Books, 1993.

Jersey City News, NJ. “Wrecked Cars All Lifted.” 11-1-1906, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed 5-7-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jersey-city-news-nov-01-1906-p-1/

New Brunswick Home News, NJ. “Saw Train Go Down.” 11-2-1906, p. 7. Accessed 5-7-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-brunswick-daily-times-nov-02-1906-p-7/

Reed, Robert C. Train Wrecks: A Pictorial History of Accidents on The Main Line. New York: Bonanza Books, 1968.

Trenton Evening Times, NJ. “Wreck Inquest is Being Held Today at Atlantic City,” 11-1-1906, p. 1. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2337928

Warren, Michael Sol. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019. Accessed 5-7-2025 at:

https://www.nj.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/02/6c318b30e95860/the-worst-disaster-in-each-of-new-jerseys-21-counties-.html

Washington Post. “Death Roll is Now 58” [Atlantic City, NJ Train Wreck] Oct 31, 1906, p. 11.  Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=5231326

Wikipedia. “1906 Atlantic City train wreck.” 4-16-2025 edit. Accessed 5-7-2025 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_Atlantic_City_train_wreck

Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1950_rail_accidents

[1] “The railroad officials say the total death list is sixty-two. On the other hand, some of those who were rescued from the train believe that several bodies were swept down by the heavy tide and lost. It is contended by some that the total loss of life will be about seventy.”

[2] “Early reports on the day of the tragedy estimated that nearly 80 people had died in the wreck…By the following day, the death toll had been revised downward to 66…The final number…a substantial toll, numbering 57 victims.”

[3] Cites three sources: (1) Edgar Haine. Railroad Wrecks, pp. 68-69. (2) Anthony Bianculli. Iron Rails in the Garden State, no page citation, and (3) Robert Reed. Train Wrecks A Pictorial History of Accidents on the Main Line. Haine does note 53 deaths. However, Bianculli (p. 126), notes 57, as does  Reed (p.100).