Great Northern accidents
ICC accident reports
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) has been recording the details of accidents and providing suggested remedies to railroads since 1910. These reports are the findings of investigations and serve as the official record of the incidents.
Accident reports are not only a report of an incident, they also provide a thorough description of the details relating to each event, such as diagrams of track and signal structures, consists of trains involved, pertinent operating rules, weather conditions, crew behavior, or any other relevent facts.
The accidents below are from the ICC web site.
Click on the incident name for a full description of the accident taken from the ICC reports.
If you have any photos or information about the incidents below, or information about incidents not listed, please e-mail me.
See the Google Map locater of accidents »
| DATE | LOCATION | TYPE | TRAINS INVOLVED | FATALITIES |
INJURIES |
CAUSE |
| 1947 | Berthold, ND» | Rear end collision | Freight/Freight | 0 |
3 |
Exessive speed within yard limits |
| 1947 | Canisteo, MN» | Side collision | Freight/Engine, caboose | 1 |
4 |
Exessive speed within yard limits |
| 1948 | Dassel, MN» | Derailment | Passenger train #4 | 0 |
21 |
Defective track |
| 1948 | Fero, ND» | Derailment | Passenger train #3 | 0 |
108 |
Defective track |
| 1948 | Sieben, MT » | Head-end collision | Freight/Motor car | 4 |
30 |
Inadequate block protection |
| 1948 | Walden, ND | Rear end collision | Mixed train #200/Freight | 1 |
5 |
Failure to control speed of train |
| 1950 | Assiniboine, MT | Head-end collision | Freight/Passenger train #235 | 0 |
29 |
Failure to provide flag protection |
| 1951 | Willow Lake, SD | Derailment | Passenger train #186 | 2 |
0 |
Broken rail |
| 1952 | Ft. Belknap, MT | Head-end collision | Passenger trains 27, 28 |
2 |
22 |
27 overshoots siding switch |
| 1952 | Glasgow, MT | Derailment | Eastbound Western Star | 0 |
5 |
Broken rail |
| 1952 | Stanley, ND | Rear end collision | Freight/Freight | 1 |
0 |
Failure to control speed |
| 1952 | Summit, MT | Head-end collision | Freight/Passenger #4 | 0 |
14 |
Block protection failure |
| 1952 | Supplee, WA | Head-end collision | Motor car/Freight | 1 |
0 |
Inadequate protection |
| 1955 | W. Union, MN | Derailment | Passenger #4 | 0 |
85 |
Broken rail |
| 1955 | Yarnell, MT | Derailment | Passenger #3 | 0 |
10 |
Rock on track |
| 1957 | Conrad, MT | Rear-end collision | Freight/Freight | 2 |
3 |
Failure to control speed of train |
| 1959 | Stephen, MN | Head-end collision | Freight/Freight | 1 |
3 |
Failure to obey train orders |
| 1959 | Cut Bank, MT | Rear-end collision | Freight/Freight | 0 |
2 |
Exessive speed within yard limits |
| 1963 | Quincy, Wash. | Head-end collision | Freight/Freight | 2 |
4 |
|
| 1964 | Wayzata, MN» | Derailment and collision | Freight/Passenger | 0 |
65 |
Broken coupler |
| 1964 | St. Paul, MN | Rear-end collision | Freight/Freight | 1 |
3 |
Exessive speed within yard limits |
| 1966 | Buelow, MT | Head-end collision | Passenger/Passenger | 2 |
?? |
???? |
| 1969 | Marysville, WA | Rear-end collision | Freight/Freight | 2 |
2 |
Engineer unconcious |
And a postscript...how's this for clean?!»