Doodlebug disaster
Doodlebug disaster
On July 31, 1940, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a gasoline-powered Pennsylvania Railroad doodlebug passenger car, No. 4648, collided head-on with a freight train on a single-track line. The doodlebug was on a 13-mile run from Hudson to Akron with 46 people aboard; the freight train was traveling from Columbus to Cleveland.
The doodlebug should have moved to a siding at Silver Lake to let the freight pass, but it continued south. Both trains braked, and they hit at about 55 mph at 5:58 p.m. The engineer, the conductor, and another railroad employee on the doodlebug jumped clear, badly injured; all the other passengers on the doodlebug were killed.
The crash ruptured the doodlebug’s gasoline tank, and burning fuel sprayed inside as the freight pushed the car along the track. Flames shot out as far as 25 feet in all directions. Firefighters fought the blaze for about 45 minutes, but it took hours to remove the bodies because they had fused to their seats.
43 people died, and 5 were injured (including two bystanders). Only three people aboard the doodlebug survived, all injured.
An investigation considered the possibility that carbon monoxide poisoning temporarily impaired the engineer, but no charges were filed. The driver had complained of fumes in the cab previously.
In 2005, on the 65th anniversary, a memorial was built near the site. It began as a school project by three 13-year-old students from Sill Middle School.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 20:23 (CET).