The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-11-19 00:00:00

A BURNING OIL TRAIN.

A destructive oil fire occurred on the New York,
Lake Erie and Western Railroad recently (says the
Detroit Free Press). A full train of cars of crude oil
was coming east ciown the grade when a coupling gave
way near the engine. For some unaccountable re:,..on
the latter part of the train broke into several pieces,
and the various tanks came down hill at a fearful rate
of speed, the momentum increasing every second.
The engineer at once perceived the danger and
allowed the engine to go at its best speed. Finally,
after an exciting race of over two miles, the bottom of
the grade was reached. The engineer soon noticed
that the runaway tanks were fast gaining on the
engine, and before he could make enough distance
the first tanks collided with the tanks which
had remained attached to the engine. In an
instant the end tanks were on fire. The engineer
at once separated the undamaged taiiks from those
which had bsen injured by the collision and removed
them a distance down the track.

All necessary rrecautions had been taken to pre-
vent the coming of other trains, and help was at once
telegraphed for. The sudden jar of the collision
caused the tanks in the rear end of the train to
telescope and the oil to catch fire, so that the
train was burning simultaneously at two places. The
morning express from the west soon came along, and
the passengers assisted the train hands in fighting
the flames by throwing sand and dirt on the
burning cars. Plenty of assistance soon arrived
from the neighbouring villages, but the heat soon
became so intense, that it was impossible to get
anywhere near enough to them to give them
battle. The flames shot up hundreds of feet into the
air, and the few trees which were in' the neighbour-
hood were soon consumed. The flames hissed and the
burning oil boiled out of the tanks until the genera-
tion of gas became too much and the tank exploded
with a deafening report. As the oil burned to the
ground after the explosion it destroyed the trucks
of the cars, the wheels becoming red hot in the blaze.
The ties were consumed and the rails curled up in the
heat like scraps of paper, the ground being saturated
With the oil.

The fire began at nine o'clock in the forenoon, and
at noon it was apparent that very little could be done
towards putting it out. As a last resource a.
cannon was borrowed from a neighbouring iron-
works and the train hands loaded it with rail-
road iron, began a bombardment from the
beet point they could find. Soon a hole had
been shot in the tank nearest the fire and the
oil ran down the embankment where the loose
earth soon absorbed it. All the cars possible had
been moved away, and the extinguishing of the fire
vias soon only a question of time. When the half •
empty tank exploded soon after it caught fire the
flames began to gradually die out. Five large tanks
had been consumed, and all that was left of them was
scrap iron. It was five o'clock in the evening before
the work could be begun on the hot earth, andlit was ten
o'clock before the express train left with its hungry
passengers. The fire could be seen and the explosion
heard for miles about the conflagration.