Mountain Lake Park Railroad Crossing Bus/Train Collision - Mountain Lake Park, MD - Disaster Memorials on Waymarking.com

On the morning of September 10, 1959, at approximately 8:30 A. M., a school bus carrying twenty-seven school children, stalled on the railroad tracks at the Mt. Lake crossing and was struck by an eastbound B. & O. passenger train, which was running about ten minutes late at the time. The Driver had operated a school bus under contract for the Garrett County Board of Education for eight years prior to the accident, having been assigned the same route the previous five years. Operation of this route called for his arrival at the Mt. Lake crossing at about the same time every morning. The Mt. Lake crossing is situated on the edge of Loch Lynn where Paul Street crosses, at right angles, the B. & O. main line tracks, into Mt. Lake Park, immediately across the tracks. Paul Street is 26 feet wide, and runs north and south. The tracks run east and west.

Although "bumpy" there was no substantial defect in the crossing. On the morning of the accident when the weather was clear and dry when the driver stopped the school bus at the lines south of the spur track, opened the front door, listened and looked both ways for approaching trains, but saw and heard nothing indicating the approach of a train.

As the school bus started up again after stopping, the crossing signals were not in operation the motor continued to function properly as the bus crossed the spur track and the 26 feet between the spur track and the south rail of the eastbound track. Just as the front of the bus went onto the eastbound track the motor started to "buckle" and stalled. The driver put the bus in neutral while it was still drifting slightly, and attempted to start the motor. It would not start. Although the driver did nothing to stop the bus, it would not drift but lurched to a stop with the rear of the bus on the eastbound track and the front of the bus on the westbound track. He testified that he attempted to restart the engine, to drift the bus off the downgrade crossing, and to run the bus off with its starter, all to no avail. Under cross examination, he gave as a possible reason for the bus not being moved by the starter that the door was open which activated the flashing lights, which "take a lot of juice." The driver testified that he did not see the train coming until "after I felt something go wrong with the bus", and that when he saw it the motor had stopped but he was still drifting. At that time the train was "some distance to the west" but he was not sure how far. The front end of the train was around the curve, but he was unsure whether the whole train was. He could not remember seeing or hearing any signals at the crossing before he stalled. The two infant plaintiffs, and another child, who were on the bus testified that when the motor of the bus faltered they looked down the track and saw the headlight of the train coming around the bend, one of them saying he also saw the engine and two cars.

When the motor of the bus would not start and the bus would not move off the track, the driver, having become aware of the onrushing train, and immediately started evacuating the children through the front door. He could not remember how he got out of the bus or what he did to rescue the children. The only evidence on this point was from other witnesses. One eyewitness testified to seeing the driver run to the rear of the bus, attempt to flag the train, and then return to the front and rescue a fallen child an instant before the impact. Another eyewitness testified that the driver was pulling children out of the front door of the bus and pushing them to safety. As the driver tried to get everyone off of the bus, he couldn’t get seven children off of the bus, who if which were memorialized in this memorial.

Disaster Date: 09/10/1959 Memorial Sponsors: Town of Mountain Lake Park Disaster Type: Technological Relevant Website: [Web Link] Date of dedication: Not listed Parking Coordinates: Not Listed

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