When Crashing Trains Was One of America’s Favorite Pastimes

Before movie theaters, public entertainment came in many forms: magic lantern shows, wild west shows, circuses, vaudeville, and train wrecks. Yes, the public spectacle of two locomotives colliding head-on was a show that people traveled miles to see, and paid for the experience. Was it safe? No, and people even died during some shows. But it was a crowd-pleaser.

One of the first staged train wrecks was done in 1895 by a railroad equipment salesman named A.L. Streeter in Ohio. The wreck used the same formula that nearly all other staged train wrecks would follow for the next 40 years. Organizers would lay a stretch of track, usually anywhere from 1,800 feet to a mile-long, and then get two old steam locomotives and put them at either end of the track facing each other. They would then hire two brave locomotive engineers to wait for a signal from the organizer. When they got the go-ahead, the engineers would pull the throttles back as far as they could to get the locomotives up to speed. They would then jump from the locomotive before the two trains crashed in front of a crowd who had paid a few dollars to see the spectacle.

A similar stunt the next year in Waco, Texas, drew 40,000 people and justified the expense of the trains, the temporary tracks, and the fake town built around it just for the event. You can't argue with profit, and staged train wrecks became a thing for the next 40 years. One showman even placed dynamite on the front of the engines for added effect. Read about the era of staged train wrecks at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Pierson, H. F./Library of Congress)


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