Approximate site of Cog Railway crash on 17 September 1967

USA / New Hampshire / Randolph /
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A mountain-climbing rail excursion car jammed with Sunday sightseers lost its engine while backing down the historic cog track on 6,288-foot Mt. Washington and leaped into a gorge, killing eight persons and injuring at least 74. The accident happened about one-third of the way down the 3 1/2 miles of track along the west side of the 6,288-foot mountain in the center of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. The passenger car derailed at a shallow curve just before the track plunges down the steepest incline of the railway, a section called Jacob's Ladder that has a grade angle of 37.41 per cent.

State Police identified the victims as:
BEVERLY RICHMOND, 15, Putnam, Conn.
ERIC DAVIES, 7, Hampton, N.H.
MARY FRANK, 38, Warren, Mich.
KENT WOODWORTH, 9, New London, N.H.
SHIRLEY ZORZY, 22, Lynn, Mass.
CHARLES USHER, 55, Dover, N.H.
A 2-year-old child identified only as the "GROSS child of Brookline, Mass."
An unidentified female was the eighth victim.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Cog_Railway#Accidents
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   44°16'32"N   71°19'6"W

Comments

  • Charlie Kennison thru the switch wrong and caused the crash but was never charged.
  • You are a liar and a POS for spreading false information
  • We were about 5'th seat down from the front. An angry crowd! caused that accident! they charged that train and pushed anyone in their way forward onto the train, and prevented many who came up on that train from getting out! We were more than double loaded, closer to triple!1 The engine began to shake & then FELL OFF! Who was at the wheel struggled with all his strength! When we fell off the on the right side, slid a few feet & stopped! I didn't know if the hand of God or the wheelman had saved us! There were boulders then a downward roll & we would have fallen down a STEEP Ravine! I need to hear more! Ruth A Frigon, 10-4-2017
  • I was eight and had a little vacation with my family planed for a long weekend, we were going to go to bartlet nh and the next day up the auto road, the accident happened a few days before. when we got to the top of the summit my brother and I ran down the tracks to see if we could see the wreck all the while my father yelling to stop cause it was a ways down the tracks ...but we just kept going until we got to the sight.....it was spooky and erie seeing the train laying over off the side......down the track a little further was the passenger car....it was a more terrifying and bloody than the engine......there were men checking and measuring things..... my father who eventually caught up with us and not to happy at my brother and I told us from talking to the investigators was that they figured the switch that diverted the train was stuck half way causing the engine to jump up off its cog gear and walk off the track....when it fell over the side the car with the people that was down the track further took off and fell off after....it was a long time ago to remember all this but my father had a 35 mm camera and took a lot off pictures so I do refresh my memory from time to time and look at them with my brother ....we are in most off the pictures.
This article was last modified 10 years ago