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killed and 18 injured. A fierce fire was visible for several miles. The bodies of the engineer of No. 7 John Bruce and
Fireman George McGrath of No. 7 were burned almost beyond recognition. Bruce was identified by his watch found under his body and Jack by a diamond ring at his side. The Engineer of No. 8, Wilkey, was reduced to a small pile of bones and flesh. George McGrath, the fireman on No. 7, was killed, but all of the passengers on the westbound train survived. The
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blamed the train operator and later then conductor. Douglas Maus found a large, heavy metal strut embedded in the dirt that appeared to have been torn from one of the train engines. The researchers received input from
Richard Jones who directed them to a number of photos of the wreck at the Arizona Historical Society Library.
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wreck was immediately blamed on a train operator named Clough at Vail, who claimed the train conductor failed to pick up the second order. But Clough disappeared the day after the accident, casting suspicion on him. Train
Superintendent C. C. Scroufe reported that Clough was most likely responsible for the wreck.
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They also found a reference to it in “Railroads of
Arizona: Vol. 1 The Roads of Southern Arizona" (1975), which referred to a "famous head-on collision took place about three in the morning of January 28, 1903, just west of Esmond, a station about 15 miles east of Tucson. Newspaper account initially
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On
January 28, 1903, an unknown number of passengers were killed as two Southern Pacific trains collided head-on at about 3 a.m. The plaque is dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives in the fiery wreck. Donated by Lewis Wagoner, Pyramid Credit Union And members of the Rita Ranch
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stopped at the Vail
Station to pick up orders, but the Conductor failed to learn of a change that directed them to pull into the Esmond siding. The impact of the collision was so great that the last car of the eastbound train was decoupled and rolled downhill 15 miles (24 km) into Tucson. The
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Out on the desert, sixteen miles from the city, is the charred and smoking mass of debris which marks the spot of the fearful wreck of
Wednesday morning. The wreck of Esmond will never be forgotten. On the tablets of memory, anguish, suffering and death was written ineffacably the horrors of the
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Newspaper reports attributed the crash to night operator E.F. Clough, who admitted that he had not delivered a second order to
Conductor Parker that instructed him to allow train No. 8 to pass him at the Esmond siding. Clough never explained why he didn't deliver the second order. Fourteen were
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Several local amateur historians began searching for the location of the accident in 1999. David
Kemsley and Tom Zumwalde were intrigued by the name of a dirt road, “Esmond Station Road”, off Houghton Road. They found a few references to the Esmond Train Station, later renamed the Papago Train
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reported, "The bodies of two women were found under the wreckage of the middle car. One had her hands clasped as if in great pain or in the act of supplication*. (*It is possible that this may have been Emma Booth Tucker who was a
Salvation Army Officer and the daughter of the Army's Founders,
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The inventory and Plan areas are named for Esmond Station, a former railroad section station located on Rita Road about one-half mile east of Houghton Road. A head-on collision of two passenger trains occurred near this site in 1903. Portions of the original structures still remain, and the
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The oil-fueled fire burned so intensely that some of the metal glowed red hot. There was no record of the number or names of passengers, making it difficult to identify some victims. Rescuers relied upon teeth, jewelry, and even a knife with initials engraved on it. The
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In September, 2002, the Pyramid Credit Union sought help from the researchers to help create a memorial for the train wreck that occurred at the location of their building. A plaque was placed by the Pyramid Credit Union near the site of the accident. It reads:
199:(No. 7). Both trains were running late. A communication error was determined to be the cause of the wreck. A night operator named Clough admitted that he did not deliver a second order to Conductor Parker which instructed him to pull the
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was running about two hours late and stopped at the Vail Station for orders. There were two orders waiting for him: the first instructed his train to meet a freight at Wilmont (west of Esmond), and the second said to meet the eastbound
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includes a chapter about the train wreck. In 2013, the Vail Unified School District named a new school the Esmond Station Elementary School. The Esmond Station Regional Park was scheduled to be constructed in 2015.
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Catherine and William Booth) The other body was lying aside of it near the two women was charred remains of a man. A pocket knife was found on him. The outside bore the name of P. Willard."
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The accident occurred at the present day intersection of Rita Road and Houghton Road, Tucson AZ, about half a mile northwest of Esmond Station, previously known as the Papago Station.
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In 2004, William Kalt presented “I'll Meet You In the Cornfield: The Great Train Wreck of 1903!” at the 45th Annual Arizona History Convention in Safford, Arizona. The book
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Station. The “Esmond Station Area Plan” revealed the prior existence of the Esmond Station and a train wreck.
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Papago Station, the site of the Esmond train wreck, on the rail line southwest of Tucson on this 1883 map.
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Makeshift coffins laid out near one of two wrecked steam engines. Burned Pullman cars are to the right.
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402:"22 Dead; 45 Injured: The Estimated Casualties of the Southern Pacific Catastrophe Yesterday",
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did not receive the second order. This resulted in the two trains crashing head on.
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possibility of designating Esmond Station as a historic site is being investigated.
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on January 28, 1903, 3:30 am, about 9 miles (14 km) east of present-day
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worst railroad disaster that has ever occurred in the Territory of Arizona.
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Accidents and incidents involving Southern Pacific Railroad
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Railroads of Arizona: Vol. 1 The Roads of Southern Arizona
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The Southern Pacific Esmond wreck on January 28, 1903.
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Songwriter Michael Crownheart composed and recorded
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195:(No. 8) collided head-on with the westbound
628:Railway accidents and incidents in Arizona
415:"Story of the Esmond Wreck Vividly Told",
286:was going to San Francisco. The eastbound
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579:"Esmond Train Wreck location plaque"
565:"Edmond Station Train Wreck Diagram"
469:"Vail, AZ Train Collision, Jan 1903"
638:1903 disasters in the United States
443:"The "Awful Catastrophe" at Esmond"
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613:Transportation in Tucson, Arizona
321: Train wreck site
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290:was headed for New Orleans. The
539:. Howell-North Books. pp.
487:Call, Susan (16 January 2013).
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68:9 miles (14 km) east of
593:"Vail Preservation Society"
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515:"Esmond Station Area Plan"
489:"Train Wreck Near Civano!"
363:Tucson Was a Railroad Town
623:1903 in Arizona Territory
618:Railway accidents in 1903
531:Myrick, David F. (1975).
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238:reported on January 30:
375:Esmond Train Wreck Site
156:Failure to relay orders
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103:32.10306°N 110.77444°W
292:Pacific Coast Express
288:Crescent City Express
284:Pacific Coast Express
258:Pacific Coast Express
254:Crescent City Express
249:Pacific Coast Express
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209:Pacific Coast Express
201:Crescent City Express
197:Pacific Coast Express
193:Crescent City Express
211:(No. 7), headed for
203:(No. 8), headed for
108:32.10306; -110.77444
643:January 1903 events
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495:on 23 October 2014
419:, February 1, 1903
417:Arizona Daily Star
406:, January 29, 1903
404:Arizona Daily Star
357:In popular culture
271:Arizona Daily Star
235:Arizona Daily Star
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185:Esmond train wreck
33:Esmond train wreck
18:Esmond Train Wreck
299:Wreck rediscovery
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148:Head-on collision
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60:3:30 am
205:New Orleans
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94:110°46′28″W
82:Coordinates
607:Categories
499:18 October
453:17 October
390:References
378:community.
161:Statistics
75:Rita Ranch
91:32°6′11″N
349:Location
135:Operator
65:Location
119:Country
50:Details
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174:Deaths
166:Trains
518:(PDF)
278:Cause
219:Wreck
153:Cause
545:ISBN
501:2012
455:2014
183:The
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
