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WEEKEND SAVINGS05 $ 336. in coupons inside $3.50 Sunday, April 25, 2021 napersun.com TRAINS COLLIDE IN NAPERVILLE APRIL 25, 1946 Workers from the Kroehler Furniture company attempt to pull survivors from a passenger car after a two-train wreck on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad tracks adjacent to the Naperville factory on April 25, 1946. CHARLES W. CUSHMAN PHOTOS/INDIANA UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES NAPERVILLE’S DEADLIEST DAY 45 died when one train slammed into another 75 years ago Locomotive of Deadly crash in Naperville resulted second train ran in limits being placed on train speeds almost through and other changes in effect today the back car of By Rafael Guerrero the lead train Naperville Sun By Suzanne Baker When one passenger Naperville Sun train slammed into the back of another in Naperville 75 The school day ended years ago, the impact was earlier than usual for Ron felt throughout the U.S. rail Keller when his father system. drove over to pick him up “At the time, the railroads from Miss McDermond’s set their own speeds. Here class on April 25, 1946. in Naperville, I think it was Dad didn’t want the about 90 mph,” said Jim young boy anywhere Christen, a Naperville resi- near the railroad tracks dent who contributed much at Loomis Street, which of the technical research in A jagged fragment from the he’d typically cross on his Chuck Spinner’s 2012 book roof of a wrecked Advance walk home from Ellsworth Train cars piled up on top of each other after one passenger train slammed into the back “The Tragedy at the Loomis Flyer coach plunged through School. In the car, the elder end of another, which was stopped on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad tracks in Street Crossing.” the window of the Exposition Keller told his son about a Naperville on April 25, 1946. The Advance Flyer was Flyer when two trains hit. horrific wreck in Naper- westbound when it left NAPERVILLE HERITAGE ville, explaining how one More inside “You could see the mess of about 5,000 in 1946 — Union Station in Chicago SOCIETY train ran into the back end that was there,” Keller said. rushed to the aid of survi- at 12:35 p.m. April 25, 1946, of another. Sculpture honors those “The locomotive of the vors and collect the dead in followed by the Exposi- “He came around that “As a first grader, I didn’t who died, survived and second train ran almost a disaster that shattered the tion Flyer, which would curve at around 85 mph,” quite understand what the helped during the accident. completely through the early afternoon peace. lag behind two or three Christen said. “He closed problem was because all Page 6 back car of the lead train. minutes on the same track. the gap between the yellow I could relate to was my Peeled it open like a tin The wreck Reports indicate both trains signal by the golf course ... Lionel train,” said Keller, Timeline takes you can.” The day was clear and were running at speeds but he didn’t slow down who for more than 50 years through how the crash Sunday marks the 75th temperature in the 60s on between 80 and 85 mph. enough. The impact here has been the Naperville occurred. Page 8 anniversary of the crash, Thursday, April 25, 1946, When the Advance Flyer was at about 45 mph.” Municipal Band conductor. one of the worst train when the Advance Flyer was forced to stop in Naper- Because of the Naperville “When one train ran into wrecks in Illinois history and the Exposition Flyer ville because of a mechan- disaster and another crash, the other one, you’d put it in which 45 people were trains left Union Station ical issue, caution signals a cap of 79 mph would be back on the track.” railroad tracks, Keller’s killed and many more westbound at 12:35 p.m., were the only things alert- placed on passenger trains, When their car reached dad stopped so they could injured. filled with families headed ing the second locomotive’s Christen said. the wooden bridge on survey the jumbled crash Naperville residents — engineer that there was a Columbia Street over the site. the town had a population Turn to Crash, Page 8 problem ahead. Turn to Changes, Page 6 CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK Quarantine numbers soar: New obstacle for schools Surge hampering at school. to remain in class is sometimes a “I couldn’t figure out what was game of inches. students, teams trying happening. … Did she get out of her When the U.S. Centers for to get back to normal seat? And were any other parents Disease Control and Prevention in her classroom getting a call?” loosened its classroom social By Karen Ann Cullotta said Burns, a former member of the distancing guidelines earlier this and John Keilman Community Consolidated School year, slashing the recommended Chicago Tribune District 59 Board of Education. 6 feet in half, the Illinois Depart- Although the vast majority of ment of Health “alerted schools When Tim Burns received a Illinois students are now learn- that more students may need to call from the nurse at his daughter ing in person at least part time be quarantined when moving Emma’s school on a recent after- after more than a year of pandem- to 3 feet,” IDPH spokeswoman noon, the message was both alarm- ic-prompted remote instruction, Melaney Arnold said. ing and confusing. the surging number of kids forced But the main factor driving the He was told Emma, a third into quarantine has been the latest rising number of students in quar- grader at Admiral Byrd Elemen- source of disruption and frustra- antine, Arnold said, can be found tary School in Elk Grove Village, tion in the prolonged and difficult outside the classroom, specifically, was required to quarantine for two effort to reopen schools. “more kids coming to school while weeks after contact tracers found With the shifting metric for infectious after being exposed to she’d been only 5 feet, 10 inches social distancing in schools — someone who is positive.” away from a classmate who’d where 3 feet is now the allowable “In some cases, students and tested positive for COVID-19 — standard but exposure within 6 staff are placing themselves at just 2 inches short of the 6 feet that feet of an infected student can still Ryan Mohler, 15, a freshman at Neuqua Valley High School, sits in his room would have allowed her to remain result in a quarantine — the ability Turn to Surge, Page 4 Friday. STACEY WESCOTT/CHICAGO TRIBUNE Tom Skilling’s forecast High 52 Low 40 Chicago Weather Center: Forecast on Page 16 Vol. 87 No. 36 6 Naperville Sun | Section 1 | Sunday, April 25, 2021 TRAINS COLLIDE IN NAPERVILLE APRIL 25, 1946 Sculpture honors those who died, survived, helped By Rafael Guerrero Naperville Sun On the east side of the Metra station platform in Naperville, three welded figures are flanked by large train wheels in a memorial dedicated to the victims, survivors and responders in the April 25, 1946, train crash that killed 45 people. The piece titled “Trag- edy to Triumph” was inspired by conversations former Naperville resident Chuck Spinner had with eyewitnesses while he was researching his book, “The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing.” Naperville City Council member Paul Hinterlong, who chaired the railroad memorial committee that selected artist Paul Kuhn to craft the sculpture, said much of Naperville was built after the 1960s so many residents are unaware of the tragedy. With only a handful of people alive who remember the crash, it remains import- ant for Naperville to remem- ber what happened and how the city came together in Naperville officials dedicated a memorial in 2014 to the 1946 train accident in which 45 people lost their lives. The figures in the display were sculpted from response, Hinterlong said. railroad spikes welded together. GARY GIBULA/FOR CHICAGO TRIBUNE The sculpture depicts two people carrying a third The injured woman in worker. The memento city and state, including Walk, according to Century and comforted a lot of person to safety. the center symbolizes the had been passed down relatives of the 45 people Walk records. people. It was an experi- One of the figures is of a victims who survived. to a family member, who killed. “I remember that day (of ence we don’t want to face sailor, representing the 10 Kuhn fashioned the wanted Kuhn to incorpo- Hinterlong said the event the crash),” then-Naperville again, but it shows the love military personnel who died figures from nearly 5,000 rate it into the piece. provided closure for some Mayor George Pradel said at and care of the people of that day, according to the railroad spikes and 10 miles Officials dedicated the families. the dedication ceremony. “I Naperville.” Naperville Century Walk. of welding wire, which he sculpture on the wreck’s The $60,000 project was out in the yard, heard all The second reflects the welded together. 68th anniversary in April was funded by the Public the sirens and I ran from our Naperville Sun reporter Kroehler Manufactur- Tucked into the sculp- 2014. Museum Capital Grant house to Plank Road. Suzanne Baker contrib- ing Co. workers and other ture is a windshield wiper The ceremony drew Program, Naperville’s “All the workers from uted. people who rushed to the picked up at the train crash about 300 people, many Special Events and Cultural Kroehler’s just took charge scene to help victims.

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