66 years ago, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad company was decommissioning steam locomotives and cars that had outlived their usefulness.
But dismantling the old rolling stock turned out to be a very expensive task. So, during the approval of the budget, someone on the board suggested staging an artificial crash on one of the railway's side tracks. The proposal was approved, and a whole scenario was developed for the crash.
First, they chose a suitable location — a stretch of track situated in a valley, on the slopes of which, on both sides of a natural amphitheater, about forty thousand spectators could be accommodated. Intrusive advertising informed all thrill-seekers. Concession stands and beer stalls were leased out. For especially important guests, comfortable pavilions were built, with seating that cost several dozen dollars. Just from selling tickets to the event, the company made twice as much as it expected to get from selling scrap metal.
Finally, the big day arrived. Two trains, with their empty cars stuffed with various flammable materials, headed towards each other. Several time-delayed bombs were buried in the embankment at the site of the expected collision. The engineers, having accelerated the locomotives, jumped into piles of sand prepared near the embankment, and the trains collided to the beat of drums. The locomotives initially bounced apart a short distance but then, pushed by the cars behind them, reared up and climbed over each other, collapsing and breaking apart with a terrible crash. The first bomb exploded, sending up a huge cloud of dust and burning debris. The locomotive boilers, filled with high-pressure steam, also exploded, adding clouds of steam and hot air to the chaos of destruction. The second bomb exploded, scattering piles of metal... The comedy ended — the drama began. Two people in the crowd, pressed close to the track, were killed by flying metal fragments. The mass of injured tried to escape from the crowd, which was rushing to grab something as a "souvenir" from the heap of smoldering wreckage...
Thus ended this one-of-a-kind "railway show," bringing its organizers enormous profits...
N. SUPRUNOV Leningrad