Spring City, Tn. Train-School Bus Tragedy 1955: a Virtual Cemetery

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A Virtual Cemetery created by Ralph Crow

Spring City, Tn. Train-School Bus Tragedy 1955

1955 Spring City School Bus Train Wreck. In Memory Of Eleven Children Who Lost Their Lives In 1955 School Bus/Train Collision. In 2005, I took my wife Elizabeth to Tennessee to place flowers on her sister Martha's and her Grandparent's Graves in Spring City, Tennessee. While there I met two families at two different graves placing flowers. One lady told me when she was a little girl in 1955 that her brother was killed on a School Bus that was hit by a train. Another lady came with her husband to another grave and her sister had died in this same accident. This was Mothers Day week-end 50 years later and these children were still not forgotten by their families. I was deeply moved by their loss. After doing some research, I have found more info on this tragedy During Our July 2009 Trip About What happened in this small town in East Tennessee. The Southern Railway train struck the bus broadside, scattering dead and injured grammar school children for 10 car-lengths along the track.The accident happened just off the main street of this town of less than 2,000 population, two blocks from the elementary school the children had just left.As in most other rural Tennessee areas, Spring City schools start classes in mid-August to allow a harvest-time recess. The town is near an elbow of the Tennessee River between Knoxville and Chattanooga.Every available ambulance and all state highway patrol cars for miles around were dispatched here immediately. The children, ranging in ages from 6 to 12, were taken to hospitals here and at nearby Dayton, Rockwood, Chattanooga and Crossville.This tragic Accident Led To Legislation That Requires All School Buses To Stop At Every Railroad Crossing.