Seeing those ancient coaches smashed into the new ones looks like two totally different eras of American history crashing into each other.

The fact the railroad didn't give their employees proper training and equipment really sticks out to me. Had they leaned on the engineers about the speed limits, or even supplied flags to the conductors, so many people would still be alive. That kind of lazy management is all over accidents like this and it's just sad to hear about. Wonderful video as always. I wasn't familiar with this crash.

My dad installed wheelchair lifts into many of the Highliners in the 90’s. He said how the dimensions of the car sides were warped and not straight bowing in. The cars were also filled with asbestos that many breathed in unknowingly.

I was actually on board highliner 1506 (car number 3) on that day. A few minutes before the crash, I was talking to my buddy. Btw we were on the bottom floor when this happened. I looked out the window just as we reached 27th street, and I was confused when we stopped after the station. Then we were backing up and I’m like, “do we stop here?” And then I felt something. Getting out was a pain since everyone was cramming through the doors, and then I saw what happened. Our car and the 2 other cars 1503 and 1522 looked to be undamaged. 1509… that’s another story. And there was a Pullman set derailed behind us. I guessed they were going on a another track but accidentally went on ours, and that caused our ride to downtown Chicago to be canceled. I did take a video and some pics, but we were stuck in 27th street until we could find another train to downtown Chicago. But hey, at least we got somewhere! I actually found newspapers showing pictures of the crash later on!

My Sister’s Father-in-law died in this tragic crash. He was a longtime employee of the Illinois Central Railroad. I was 13 years old at the time and I remember him as a warm, quiet, and cheerful soul. (RIH)🙏🏾🔥💕

My grandmother (74) was on the single level train in the first car. It’s a blessing that she still survived and was able to raise me

Into railroad history! Rip to all of those who died then

In the UK 🇬🇧 if you overrun, you overrun. There is no going backwards. If you forget to stop, then passengers get off at the next station. We have had some awesome ‘didn’t see the signal’ accidents, so we had automatic braking when you pass a signal.

I used to ride both the old Pullman’s and the high liners. BTW the old Pullman’s were called the green monsters and had wicker seats that you could flip back and forth to change the direction of the seating.

I actually been by the station was alot, mostly because I grew up in Chicago. RIP to everyone who died in this.

As a person who lives outside of Chicago, I have wanted you to make this for so long so thank you!

Chicago Rail Collision. Brand New EMUs destroyed in a collision with older ones. Before the era of metra. IC new high liners destroyed in a collision with older Pullman EMUs. You will not be forgotten, Those who died in the Chicago Train Collision. The first highliners were later retired by Metra in 2016. Some highliner emu cars are preserved.

I work with a young man whose grandfather was killed in this accident. I was 5 that year, so obviously I do not recall it. However I do recall the tragic train accident that occured between a Dan Ryan and Ravenswood train in 1977. My mom, cousin, and I had just arrived downtown when it happened via the subway. The Ravenswood was renamed the Brown Line in the 90's, and Dan Ryan became the Green Line.

Hey man. Even though I haven’t watched this yet I know this is going to be outstanding like the other ones you have done.

Incredibly well made and well researched. I have always been fascinated by this crash, as my grandfather was commuting to work that very morning on the IC, and I remember him telling me how frightening the crash was in person.

I was one of the people on that train. And i still remember that faithfull day...

Fantastic documentary Thunderbolt! The colors of the double decker cars look like they were New Haven RR. R.I.P to the 45 that were killed in the incident. Truly a dark day for Chicago railroading.

Can't believe it's been 50 years. I was in 4th grade when this happened. I remember watching the news.

New accident doc from Thunderbolt 1000 Productions!? Yayyyy! Good to see you again, old friend, how I missed you. I got tired of watching the playlist over and over with nothing new

That was really well made, glad to see another documentary from you and can’t wait to see what’s up next

Finally!! This accident is very forgotten and the Wikipedia article is tiny!

If I miss a freeway off ramp I always back up on the freeway. It's the smart thing to do.

Wow, never expected that.

There was a writeup on this tragedy in Reader's Digest. Two young ladies were pinned underneath the wreckage and they had to remove all of it before those ladies could be rescued. IIRC both survived.

6:37 when doctor Edward Goldberg said limbs hanging out the window that gave me chills just hearing that

I rode the 1971 Highliners when they were brand-new, fresh off the St. Louis Car assembly line. While they were very impressive to look at compared with the old 1926 Pullman Green electric heavy weights, their construction was very, very flimsy. The bodies of these cars looked like they were made of tinfoil. That's why when the impact took place, a terrified passenger on one of the unaffected cars stated that seconds into the collision all she could see was the "orange" on the Highliner peel away as the Pullmans telescoped into the rear of it. I still continued to ride them for many years after that. For the most part they proved to be very dependable, especially given the severity of the Chicago winters. But they truly did have a rocky start to say the least.

Those Pullman cars are pure works of art and craftsmanship....these train cars just beautiful.

I grew up in Madison so going down to Chicago was a fairly regular occurrence. This made the regional news. What strikes me as an adult looking back on that time as a child is how “backwards”, for lack of a better term, things were back then. The law requiring *installation* for car seat belts was only 6 years old and my dad had been chided before the 1966 law for actually *paying extra* to have them installed in our car when I was young. There were no such things as paramedics or fire/rescue personnel everywhere. They were an experiment in Los Angeles and Miami in 1969, with only 6 full-fledged paramedic units in 3 cities’ pilot programs (Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle) in 1972. That means the ambulances responding to this disaster were staffed with men trained in advanced first aid. Counselors at scout camps have advanced first aid training. Let that ruminate for a minute. And unless the doctors and nurses coming from the hospital had some kind of “battlefield medicine” experience, they weren’t necessarily trained in field stabilization of patients either. It just really puts this disaster into even more perspective.

Commuter Train Number 416 was running a local service, while train 720 was running express. They two trains were both travelling downtown.

Couldn't wait. Binged some earlier ones to hold me over. Thanks for doing the video!

Do you plan on covering 611’s accident from 1956? Keeping your college and job lives in mind, I want to remind you a few months ahead of time, so you have plenty of time for research, writing, and editing.

We have an old Metra Highliner here in South Bend, IN. It is used at the fairly new Fire training academy.

On the foggy morning of October 30th, 1972, the 2 commuter trains collided rear end.

I was taking these trains to school in 1972. I rode on both types of cars and the old cars were very heavy riveted iron plate similar to what you would see on a ship. The newer cars were built similar to automobiles with thin gauge bodies. There was a huge mass differential

That is one hell of a fantastic youtube documentary. My help with the links really did some assistance on your video as well as a few others.

I'm not convinced the flag protection would have avoided this. The fact that one train was reversing is almost irrelevant to me to since the speed difference from stopped wasn't that great. There was signals that needed to be more visible. But it seems like by the time a trainman would have walked back to put the flags up and walked back to the train the collision would have happened anyways. Seems like the train schedule was too tight for the method of train control if a high speed collision is ok only minutes away. If the train was held in the stop longer than usual wouldn't it also be hot from behind in this situation? I equate it to someone ran a stop sign or red light and hits a car that backs up slowly after stoping late. Sure they shouldn't have been backing. But the runner wasn't going to be able to stop for the traffic device anyways.

Glad to see these are back

Well done documentary! A lot of work went into this, and it shows. Nice job covering a sad event with respect.

Love all the old footage at the end. Really enjoyed this video. Instant sub.

Fantastically well-produced and informative video. Thank you. I learned a lot!

It’s always a good feeling when one of your most watched channels takes a suggestion you made a while back

Outstanding reporting! Worked all weekend @ at a national event and come home to T1K's new drop. TY!

New Documentary, Great Job Thunder (as always)

I don't understand why and how they can just decide to back up without telling anyone . They would have been better off just going on to the next station .

Thank you for keeping history alive, well done!

I live 100 miles east of Chicago and was in 8th grade then. Still remember seeing the photos in the paper and the TV news. Was pretty crazy how this happened.

If anyone is ever in the Chicago area, I would recommend that you visit the Illinois Railway Museum.

Very nice video! Crazy to think you have more subscribers than the official K&L Trainz channel! Keep up the good work!

Nicely done, thanks!

I never knew of this accident, thanks for bringing to us, great job!

Another great video, as always. Thank you! RIP to the victims of this crash

Fascinating video. I was just talking with my mom the other day about this incident. The had a college classmate that used to take that train to school in chicago, but missed getting to the train station due to car problems that morning.

KUDOS! Excellent video, well researched and executed. Grade 10 out of 10. Probably you spent a lot of time and effort.

Please do the Norfolk and Western tank car explotion in 1974 in Decatur, Illinois. It blew up my great-grandparents house. (THERE WAS A LOT OF DAMAGE!!! PARTS OF THE YARD BLEW UP!! AND 7 DIED) My dad also was a part of the clean up with my greatgradparents house. He was around 6-7 years old at the time of the explotion. He also didn't live that far away from rail yard. The yard I think is either owned by Norfolk Southern or Canadian National now PLZ take this into consideration

15:25 I think when you overshoot by that distance like in this case and already left the block, proceeding to the next station is not a bad idea. Especially if it was just a small station like here where not a lot of people get in and out. Reversing is always risky and sometimes it's not worth the risk

1:17 taken at the Illinois railway museum. Located in Union Il. it is a must see whether your a train buff or not. I remember hearing about this on the Wally Phillips show as I was getting ready for my high school day. Hard to believe it's been 50 years. 9:45 surprise!

Great video I lived in Chicago during this time and remember this well!

I’m only in the ads and ik how much ima like this vid, I live in Chicago too. Good job dude I love your vids

The old Pullman cars were tanks compared to these new highliners

Top Notch video as always As soon as you said Illinois Central, the song City of New Orleans popped into my head

Yesss! I missed your documentaries

Your work is always awesome and well executed! I look forward to your next video every time. Thank you for what you do, it's always informative and entertaining

very nicely done....straight up

Thanks for the vid bro💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 your the 🐐

great video!!

yet another amazing video

Its always a good day when you post a train crash documentary

Once again, another great job!

this video is awesome. your best so far!!! ps.: pls do the Italian Viareggio disaster

Great video! Please make a video about the 1979 Harvey train collision. Fun fact, the 1972 Chicage collision took place 1 year after the Salem Illinois derailment and 23 years before the Fox River Grove collision. Please make a remastered video of the Salem Illinois derailment. I'm your number one fan and I love your videos! Keep up the great work!

My cousin's friend was on that train. He had come back from service in Vietnam as a body retrieval for the medical team. He said later he blanked out and was found by EMTs, gathering bodies and their parts, putting them near the train.

I remembrr this, and it was hard to understand why it happend, so I appreciate your work!

I had a cousin on that train. By the advice of her aunt, she sat in a middle car and survived uninjured.

One thing that may have been explained, is that the leading train only overshot the station by one signal block, so therefore the following train would have been expecting a stop signal at the station, presuming he was running on yellows, both due to switching and being aware of the leading train. Sitting in the station would only require the following train to stop a couple hundred feet shorter than had it been forced to stop at the red. Perhaps they were expecting the signal to raise to approach upon their arrival, but on a passenger timetable, that would be a presumably terrible idea. Back to my point, if the following train was set to stop at red at the platform (as he said, was expecting to see the leading train leaving the platform), and expecting to be within east eyesight of the leading train, how was he still booking it at line speed, clear into the rear car? Ahh yes, questions answered as usual. Thank you. Next question though, what halfwit would expect a conductor to get out of a perfectly good railcar and run like the dickens up an active subdivision to warn approaching trains? And they expected compliance with signal speed restrictions when many crews were unable to gauge exactly how fast that was? Your thirty and my thirty are two completely different speeds. And aren’t Metra cars now chevroned at the ends for this exact reason?

I was doing homework when this came out and Good job

Thank You for producing this! Just North of the 27th Streeet Station Stop, there was a Signal (no longer there) that would have turned Red once #416 had passed it, and the Signal about a mile or so before it would have shown a Yellow, which South Chicago/Randolph Street Train #720 would have passed at restricted speed; but since #416 backed up, there was no way the Engineer of #720 would have have seen it change back to RED (he was already past it) or suspected anything until it was too damned late! I keep hearing it was a foggy Morning around there too...and everyone knows on those older IC Cars that they had Black Painted Ends, with very small Classification Lights, look at 7:24 (Red, White, Green, Yellow) that you could hardly see when the weather was clear, let alone when it was foggy or inclement weather. Larger (ones following trains could see) RED REAR END LIGHTS were put in over the years on all of those Highliners, and it was a vast improvement! I'm glad someone decided to document this, because my late Auntie was in the last car of Train #720, and she suffered back problems for decades after that because she was thrown from her seat! Eventually, she did return to work, but I remember her telling me she AVOIDED riding ANY Highliner MU to South Chicago that had those Cars in a consist! Some of what I wrote came from an IC Commuter Division Employee Friend (who is deceased now) and was on duty at Randolph Control Downtown (they dispatch the Tains on the Metra Electric, I'm not sure what they call it now) and I was told this back in 1974, and they lived a few streets away from where I lived. I remember the REPOSE OF THE SOULS OF THE 44 SOULS DEPARTED on that fateful day, many reading Newspapers, having a Friendly Game Of Cards, or PERHAPS SLEEP, and never knew it would be their last ride on a Train they were used to getting on everyday.

“Further more”: now we know know. Great video!

Something like this is absolutely scary.

I like learning about train things and this is a good video I learned a lot

The cavalier attitude to safety rules back then is astonishing.

The solid yellow signal light is called “approach indication”. Slow down expecting to stop at any time. It should be treated as a speed restriction. This means stopping within half the distance of sight.

I actually saw them in Union mills in a siding just itting there at Wellsboro Indiana where cn crosses over csx facing west

My father was three trains behind this wreck. they had to stop, disembark & walk around this accident to another train to continue.

The highliners do remind me of the older C&NW bi-level Gallery Cars which Amtrak used for a number of years.

My dad rode the IC train from Tinley Park to downtown every morning in 71/72. We had just moved from the Chicago area in September. When we saw the coverage on tv we were surprised to say the least.

Looks like the old Pullmans are more durable than the Highliners. comes to show that old equipment can surpass the new.

As an instructor of engineers for Metro-North in New York, I used this accident as an example of why you should NEVER back up with out permission from the dispatcher.

Finally you’re back with the train wreck over the years

Fantastic documentary.

For another documentary, please do the Naperville Illinois train wreck, that was the wreck that caused all high speed rail projects to be halted.

If you look out the window of a moving train and see the engineer, that's a bad sign.

I hope more Documentaries and Engines of Septa come back

These videos are the best rail disaster documentaries I have ever watched, can't wait for the next videos

RIP to all who died in this crash

I rode the IC from Ivanhoe to Randolph Street daily. I remember the crash vividly and it was very haunting to me for years. My dad was an IC suburban conductor when this accident occurred. He told me to never ride in the front or last car in the highliners after this accident.

I was a student at UI Chicago then and commuted to campus from a different direction. When I arrived that morning I was first struck by how little traffic there was in the area, only to find why that was. A friend was supervisor on a building construction crew a block or so from the scene and they were among the first to arrive. They tore into the cars to try and pull people out. They watched helplessly as a woman lay there still alive and screaming while a group of burly construction workers vainly tried to lift the tons of the heavier car from atop her.

This is why I try to never ride in the last or first car of a train. I ride the cafe car of the Surfliner a lot. That's car 4 of a six car train.

I read about this on Wikipedia, this was crazy!!!

Music by Thomasfan2016

If I recall, this was also the wreak that outlawed any and all heavy weight interurban cars in Chicago.