The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing

Contents

Dedication

Introduction for:

The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing

Chapter 1 -

Tracing the Path of the Railroad to Naperville

Chapter 2 - The Road Not Taken

Chapter 3 - Boarding the Train

Chapter 4 - The Crash

Chapter 5 - Naperville Train Wreck - Why?

Epilogue

Appendix

Acknowledgments

This photo gives a clear picture of the accident scene. On the left (North) side of the railroad tracks can be seen Kroehler Furniture Factory and the Naperville water tower. On the right (South) side of the tracks is Fourth Avenue crossed by Loomis Street. In the intersection can be seen the engine of the Exposition Flyer imbedded in the last car #1376 of the Advance Flyer. Behind car #1376 and to the left is the slightly damaged second last parlor car, the Mississippi. To the right of the Mississippi is the nearly totally destroyed third last car, the Silver Inn dining car. To the right of the Silver Inn is the overturned Silver Cloud passenger car. Behind the Silver Cloud is the derailed Silver Gleam passenger car. The darken area, two car lengths east of the Loomis Street crossing next to the trees indicates the point of impact. Photo courtesy of Paul Hinterlong.

Dedication

This dedication goes to a number of people:

1. The men, women, and children who died in the crash and the families that they left behind. Hopefully this book has revealed that the number dead were more than just statistics. These victims were people who were loved and cherished, and now more fittingly remembered.

The passengers who survived the crash. Hopefully, their appreciation for an extended lease on life allowed them to produce greater positive effects on their communities than otherwise would have been their destiny. Any efforts in their extended lives made on behalf of the fallen victims of the wreck serve more a monument than ever could have been placed at the site of the crash.

2. All the Burlington Train employees who worked the rails and provided a vital means of transportation during and after World War II. In my research I hope that train enthusiasts look at the emphasis I’ve placed on this important rail event that for so long has been ignored by the general public. I hope I am forgiven if I have fallen short at times in meeting their standard of technical excellence in my explanations. Instead I hope they understand and appreciate my attempt to reduce, what can be at times very complex issues, into layperson terms. Special thanks in this regard goes to Rupert Gamlen who took my email questions and was able to elicit wonderful responses from former rail employees and rail enthusiasts Bob Webber, Bill Barber, Bob Campbell, Sam Cook, Pete Hedgpeth, Bob Dillon, Bryan Howell, Dean Houston, and others I’m sure I forgot to mention. Hol Wagner and J.W. Schultz co-edited a fantastic history of the Exposition Flyer (Burlington Bulletin, No.42, 2003) that was extremely helpful in my research.

3. The people who came to aid the victims of the crash. Those neighbors, Kroehler employees, Evangelical Theological seminary students, North Central College students, priests, firemen, police, ambulance workers, medical personnel, and even uninjured passengers from both trains who saw people in need and never hesitated in extending a hand. These were not the rubberneckers who at times clogged up recovery efforts, but people who came and stayed to help until either their bodies or the need for their help were exhausted.

4. Primary and secondary sources . The many people who have allowed me to interview them; who have sent me articles; and who have given me encouragement and support. I have printed many of these names in the acknowledgment section. Their participation has enabled me to present their stories and those of so many others as accurately as possible. The support given by Bope Schrader is here singled out for special mention.

5. The many library and newspaper researchers and archivists, many of whose names are listed in the acknowledgment section at the back of the book, who so willingly used their time and talents to once again bring to light, stories that for 66 years had been forgotten. Special mention goes to Kimberly Jacobson Butler, North Central College archivist; the staff at the Chicago Public Library; and Bryan Ogg of the Naperville Heritage Society all of whom opened their archival files for my research.

6. Paul Hinterlong who graciously shared the many historical photographs of the crash site that he has purchased over the years.

7. My very talented nephew, JD Spinner who again created a fantastic cover for my second book; my good friend Rosemary Merchant who worked to proofread and clean up my manuscript; Jean McGowan for her computer expertise; AuthorHouse Publishing Company (especially J.R. Turner and his design team) for providing the avenue and assistance for putting this work into print; and friend Judi Goerke for her enthusiastic promotion of this work.

8. My wonderful wife, Patrice, who once again, as with my first book, showed me understanding and support, and allowed me the time and seclusion needed to produce both the research and the writing contained in this work.

9. Jim Christen, the premier expert on the technical aspects of the train wreck. Jim, unhesitatingly handed over the research he had accumulated for several decades on the Naperville train wreck. He was in communication with me throughout this long and involved project and painstakingly helped proofread the rough copies. Any credit in regard to the accuracy of the details of the wreck should go to Jim; any inaccuracies most probably fall to my misinterpretation of his research and documentation. More than anyone, he was my greatest asset and best supporter. This book was as much his dream as it was mine.

All that being said, I give a special dedication of the book to our two precious grandsons, Caleb and Joshua Spinner. I know they are proud of their Papa as he is of them. They are the light of their grandparents’ lives. The boys’ parents, Scott and Ellen, presented Patrice and me with two wonderful incentives to keep us vigorous in mind, spirit, and body so that we might share as much of their lives as the good Lord sees fit. Their smiles and unique personalities were an inspiration in my attempt to reproduce and restore to memory the individual lives of those who fell victim to the Naperville Train Wreck of April 25th, 1946.

Ex Burlington employee and rail history buff, Jim Christen with author. Picture taken by Tom Fitzgerald.

Haste in getting out the news of the tragic train wreck resulted in a number of inaccurate statements. In their same day EXTRA edition, The Naperville Sun reported what proved to be more than twice the final number of actual fatalities.

Map of Naperville detail from original drawn by Harold F. Steinbrecher, c. 1930. Courtesy of the Naperville Heritage Society.

Introduction for:

The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing

Travel

My heart is warm with friends I make,

And better friends I’ll not be knowing;

Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,

No matter where it’s going.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

On April 25th, 1946, my mom was pregnant with me. In fact, she was at the end of her first trimester. I would be born on October 22, 1946. Our family lived in Naperville, Illinois, directly across from the main entrance of Kroehler Furniture Manufacturing Company, which at the time proudly displayed in big bold letters along the roof line of the building World’s Largest Furniture Manufacturing Company. Our house was on the north side of Kroehler; the railroad tracks ran along the south side. Our house was also just a block from the train intersection at Loomis Street.

At that Loomis Street crossing the most devastating railroad collision in the history of the Burlington railroad would take place. On that Thursday in April, at 1:05pm, the Exposition Flyer would ram into the back of the stopped Advance Flyer. The collision would result in 45 deaths and many more injuries.

The Kroehler building would shield our house from the site, but my brothers and sister could hear the wailing of the sirens for several hours as ambulances and support vehicles rushed to the scene. My brothers, John and Bob and my sister, Jean, were given strict instructions to stay in our house and not go to the tracks. Our mom, because of her pregnancy, was also kept from the scene. Our dad worked at Kroehler and like many of the 800 employees of the factory was at the site giving assistance.

The crash site was compared to a war zone. In fact, many soldiers who were returning from the war were passengers on those two trains. A number of them stated that they had been in combat situations, but that none of those battles had resulted in a scene as horrific.

After the bodies had been retrieved and sent to their various towns for burial, after the injured had been treated, and after the wreckage had been cleared away, not much was said or written thereafter about the Naperville train wreck of 1946. After my father died in 1961, I entered a boarding school seminary as a sophomore in high school. During my first day of class, each and every one of my instructors asked me to introduce myself to my new classmates. When I mentioned that I was from Naperville, inevitably the instructor would mention the association of my town with the 1946 train wreck. It was the first time I had heard of it. And, as I’ve found out, this omission was not too uncommon an occurrence.

Although some days are long, the years go by fast. I made the decision to leave the seminary after college. I then began a 33 year career teaching high school social studies in the Cleveland, Ohio area. That’s where I met my wife, Patrice Supik and that’s where we raised our son, Scott.

After I retired, I spent five years writing A Book of Prayers: To the Heavens from the Stars (abookofprayers.com), a collection of the beautiful favorite prayers from 118 wonderful celebrities. Then, one day as I was going through my files, I came across an article my mother had sent me some time before, that mentioned that it had been 40 years since the tragic Naperville train wreck. The article led to several reflections. My mother who had kindly sent me the article had died in 1998. The article reminded me of the many, many letters and articles she had sent her children during her lifetime. She was a wonderful, thoughtful mother and I always missed her, but the article especially focused my attention on her absence. The article also made me reflect on my father who had died at the age of 50. I was 14 years old at the time and thought of my father as an older man. However, now that I was in my 60s, I realized just how young he had been, and also how each day of my life is a precious gift to be used wisely. I’ve always been inspired by my dad who was a hard worker. On the day of the train wreck, workers at the nearby Kroehler Furniture Company were released from their jobs to help at the crash site. Although he never talked to me about that day, I’m certain that my father was one of the many who helped at the scene. After 25 years at Kroehler, our dad and his brother Bill bought the Naperville Liquor Store. Our dad could relate to all classes of people, and he loved his family dearly. His funeral was one of Naperville’s largest.

Kroehler Furniture Ad from Chicago Daily News, April 26, 1946

Naperville Package Liquor Store ad from Naperville Sun, May 2, 1946. Newspaper also references rescue worker Calista Wehrli.

Section of engraved casting of Naperville map depicting 1946 train wreck. Map is located outside of Naperville’s Nichols Library. Photograph taken by author.

The article also made me wonder why, after 61 years, nothing of any great substance had ever, to my knowledge, been written about the lives lost in that tragedy. Nor was there a monument or marker at the scene. I thought to myself, had those forty-five victims of the wreck all been from Naperville, there would have been any number of commemorative reminders of the lives that had been lost. The only reminder of