Yes what a beautiful day it was as passengers mainly from two families The Ribblet and Conner boarded the trolley to Woodland Park near Ebensberg Pa. on the Southern Cambria Trolley line on August 12 of 1916 .
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| Trolley barn where cars 102 and 104 originated from |
Little did they know what was soon to be their last day on earth for 25 of them almost instantly when the trolley they where riding on would go out of control and runaway down a steep cliff at estimated 40 mph and slam into another trolley coming the other way at 15 mph the equivalent of 55 mph head on collision of wooden trolleys which telescoped them. It is a miracle any one survived.
A big Thank You to Facebook Group
Jackson Township Historical Preservation who provided the Black & White Images
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A rewritten easier to read newspaper article with more details of the wreck
What really happened that day in 1916 will never be known to cause the problem as there was n problems reported with the car the day before or during routine maintenance. But the trolley would runaway and the conductors did all they could to try and stop that run away car from reversing motors to trying to take the conductor rod off the power line as it came screaming down thru the valley past Echo and Brookdale stops and passing the trolley barn and to meet its fate near a curve near Mineral Point
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| Johnstown residents scramble to get aide to the rural site of accident |
When news of the horrific crash came into Johnstown and Ebensberg residents quickly assembled what cars where available and transported doctors and nurses to the scene and trolleys where quickly made into make shift ambulances. as where business owner trucks even a close by railroad car of a passing train was utilized to get the injured aide
It was a horrifying site mutilated bodies and pieces of trolleys everywhere. and the screams of the survivors in the middle of no where even today it is still a very rural area near mineral point where a Dam has been constructed and only way back to where there are some bridge ruins and where the accident happened can be viewed. is via a 2 1/2 mile gravel foot trail. according to locals
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| The run away would have been coming from left hand side you can still see part of the old right of way which is visible |
Why there was never a state marker put up over this tragedy is unknown but there should be one I was also surprised a movie was never made on the accident as well. The line went out of business in 1928 when it could not meet its financial obligation to survivors of the wreck and defaulted on its bonds and this was not the first wreck on the line there where several due to its very steep daunting route which challenged those who rode it. . But this is not the only tragedy to hit this valley Mineral Point was ripped off the map at one point and 48 of its residents killed as flood waters roared down thru this valley during the Johnstown flood.
and of course all the jobs lost when all the mills shut down almost bringing Johnstown and the valley to its knees.
For such a tragic accident that happened there is very little to be found on it other than couple old pictures and newspaper accounts and only memory's handed down thru the generations. to survivors family members. There was a well written article in the Pittsburgh Press Sunday Roto Magazine
in 70's which I have not been able to locate.
Currently there is a plan to turn the old trolley route into a bike trail as much of the old right of way still exists and is passable.
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| Wreck site is located behind this dam |
