This Day in History: 1931-05-13

A spectacular train derailment at 3:30am three hundred feet south of the Mahwah train station, awoke people for a mile around. A broken wheel on an eastbound freight train caused it to jump the track and sideswipe the fast westbound milk train. The engine of the milk train overturned and over fifteen railroad cars piled up in the wreck which blocked all four tracks of the Erie Railroad and disrupted the morning rush hour service. Three trainmen narrowly averted death. They were rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital by ambulance where they were treated by the Erie Railroad surgeon, Dr. Royal F. Sengstacken. An Erie spokesman said that it was a miracle that the engineer, fireman and a brakeman were able to crawl out of the overturned engine with only minor injuries. They had seen the lurching car as they approached and were able to prepare before the accident. The engineer and the conductor of the other train as well as the conductor of the derailed train rushed to the aid of the injured men immediately. The work of re-routing the commuters was immediately begun. Suffern passengers were sent on the Piermont Branch. A bus from Tuxedo took care of Sloatsburg and Hillburn. A shuttle train from Waldwick served Allendale and Ramsey commuters. Large crowds gathered all day to watch the crews clean up the debris. Erie detectives kept them back. The tracks had been so badly damaged, that one had been bent into a loop. By 9am service was resumed on two tracks. (Bristow)