The Porter Said "....and in come the station"!

Do you remember the train wreck at Main Street in DG when we were 7 or 8 years old?
Ray Vybiral sent out these pics of the wreck to several DGers --- and Tom Austin filled in the details below. Since we lived a couple of blocks from town, and my dad worked for Civil Defense, I remember it well.

What follows is from Tom Austin:
"Indeed, Downers Grove, Main Street depot. April 3, 1947, at 10:41 PM. Dr. Ehler (Glen) just happened to working at his office late, and treated 11 victims of the crash. Only 2 were fatally injured of the 65 on the train. As luck would have it, John Kidwell was at the Masonic Temple, and working for Electro Motive Corporation, knew where the switches were to cut the power, which stopped the fire from spreading.

Scenario: East bound freight train passes through Downers Grove, and a 14 ton International Harvester tractor falls off. This is not noticed by the crew, and Mrs. CM Draper, who often worked late, had left, leaving the station empty. Seconds later, the Twin City Zephyr, on schedule from Minneapolis, St. Paul went through at the customary 70 miles per hour and hit the tractor. This took out 300 yards of railroad right of way track and the engine wound up on its side blocking all three tracks. First and second coaches jack knifed and took out the west canopy, the west waiting room, and filled the ticket office with debris.


Lobby of the Tivoli theater was the first aid station.

By midnight a temporary track was put in and beefed up to keep traffic moving when cranes arrived from the Chicago yard, and by the next day things were back to normal.

There never was anyone named as responsible for not securing the tractor, but several people lost jobs or were demoted quietly over the wreck.

My Uncle Art was a CB&Q fireman, so we were privy to a lot of the details."


Thanks to Garland Edgell and his magic touch with Photoshop, the pictures are much more clear. And if you click on the title to this story, you'll reach the archives of the Downers Grove Reporter and all stories and pictures about the wreck. Again, our thanks to Garland Edgell for providing the link to the Reporter.