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| Photo: gendisasters.com |
An estimated 500 were injured.
And yes, that was a "wooden trestle" in "Woodbridge."
"Volunteer firemen of New Jersey spearheaded the rescue effort," Fire Engineering magazine reported in its April 1, 1951 edition.
"As the magnitude of the tragedy became known, police broadcasts brought more and more rescue companies and emergency squads rolling in with needed lighting, cutting, forcible entry and other equipment, and personnel trained in emergency first aid work," the magazine said.
The Associated Press reported:
"The 11-car Pennsylvania Railroad train, The Broker, swerved wildly and jumped the tracks as it sped onto the midtown overpass. The cars, jack-knifing crazily, hurtled down a 20-foot embankment.
"The new, temporary overpass had been put into service only a few hours before the crash."
AP also reported:
"Ambulances hurried to the scene from all over North Jersey. Blood plasma was sent from New York and Jersey City.
"A morgue was set up in a garage. Blood-splattered rescue workers tenderly placed the dead in long rows, then pulled brown sheets of paper over their still forms. The feet of the dead sprawled limp, uncovered by the paper shrouds.
"Acetylene torches sputtered beneath the eerie rays of big spotlights, the torches biting first this way and then that around trapped passengers.
"Small ladders were laid against the slime of the embankment. And other big fire department ladders also were moved up to get at the coaches. The dead and injured, pulled free, were placed on the stretchers and handed down the ladders."
