[PRCo] Cuyahoga Falls & Hudson Railway///Pennsylvania Railroad

[Herb Brannon]

As I said before, the Cuyahoga Falls & Hudson Railway (CF & H) was to
operate on the former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. The Pennsylvania RR ran
a commuter service between Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson. A timed
transfer at Hudson allowed passengers to continue on to Cleveland and vise
versa. The Akron - Hudson service was operated with a gas-electric rail car
(which had a 350 gallon gasoline tank mounted on the roof) and was given the
local name of the "Doodlebug". On July 31, 1040 the gas-electric car was
coming south on the line from Hudson. Orders were issued for the Doodlebug
to take the siding at Silver Lake (they apparently didn't have enough money
in Silver Lake to stop the railroad back in 1940) and wait for a
northbound Pennsy freight train. For some reason the orders were ignored and
the Doodlebug and the freight hit head on in the intersection of Front
Street and Hudson Drive. The gasoline tank burst and exploded and 43 of 46
passengers died at the scene. Oddly enough the only three people to survive
were the engineer, conductor and brakeman of the Doodlebug. No injuries on
the steam locomotive powered freight train. Attached is a photo of the
Doodlebug before and after the accident.
This accident was referred to in court testimony, against the CF & R, by the
Silver Lake attorney probably as a fear measure. Of course, no 350 gallon
gasoline tanks are now in use.

-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park



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