- Author
- National Transportation Safety Board
- Title
- Railroad Accident Report: Illinois Central Railroad Company, Train No. 1 Collision With Gasoline Tank Truck at South Second Street Grade Crossing, Loda, Illinois. January 24, 1970.
- Coporate
- National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC
- Report
- NTSB-RHR-71-1, January 24, 1970, 32 p.
- Keywords
- railroad accidents | accident investigations | highways | passenger trains | tank cars | gasoline | explosions | injuries | warning systems
- Identifiers
- rail-highway grade corssing accident; derailment; train-truck collision; fire in cab of locomotive; locomotive conditions; cab of locomotive; automatic warning device
- Abstract
- About 9:55 a.m., on January 24, 1970, Illinois Central Railroad southbound passenger train No. 1, moving at a speed of 70 miles per hour on track No. 1, struck a motortruck loaded with gasoline on the South Second street crossing in Loda, Illinois. The tank of the truck was split open, spilling the gasoline which explosed and caught fire. The burning gasoline covered the exterior of the locomotive unit and entered the control compartment through the nose door, damaged nose, and other openings. Three employees of the railroad, who were occupying the control compartment of the lead locomotive unit at the time of the accident, and the driver of the motor-truck received fatal injuries form the burning gasoline. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was that the operator drove the gasoline-laden truck, without stopping, onto the tracks immediately in front of the approaching train, while the corssing warning device was indicating the train's approach.