Red Electric Head-On Collision - Bertha, Oregon
N 45° 28.263 W 122° 40.968
10T E 524794 N 5035329
This looks like typical suburban sprawl; you would never guess what happened here nearly 90 years ago. A head-on collision between two opposing interurban trains killed 9 people on Sunday morning May 9, 1920.
Waymark Code: WM3H5M
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 04/06/2008
Views: 45
The track was picked up in 1932 and the roadbed was converted to Barbur Boulevard - the automobile wins again. There is an excellent description with photographs and a sketch of the wreck in 'The Red Electrics' by Dill and Grande, 1994 Pacific Fast Mail; here is a summary derived from that book -
Train 124 consisting of two cars was headed inbound to Portland at 15 mph while Train 107 was headed outbound at 35 mph on a single track main line. In a curve benched into the side of a hill, the two trains met head on. The lead car of Train 107 climbed over the lead car of Train 124 and sheared the steel body back about 20 feet. The cars were not equipped with anti-climbers. Train 124 had eight deaths while train 107 had one death. As a result of this wreck the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered the Southern Pacific Railroad to extend their block signal system further out into suburban Portland to Beaverton on the "west" side line and to Jean on the "east" side line.
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