An interesting video.
BB #42 covers that collision on pages 167 to 177. There is a book out on it; namely,
The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing by Chuck Spinner.
I am sure numbers of you know much more about the wreck than I do. I really want to hear from you but I will start the nit-picking:
a) The crash was NOT in downtown Naperville. The downtown was about six blocks south of the CB&Q suburban station. (Incidentally, the population of Naperville at the time was around 5000. b) The last car on the Advance Flyer was NOT an observation car. It was a Northern Pacific Heavy weight coach.
I read pretty much anything I find is on that crash.
I was in first grade at the westside primary school in Naperville at the time. The windows at school were open. There was a big sound outside at one point. I made (as usual) some comment like “What is that?” My dear first grade teacher, Miss Larson, told me to hush (as usual). As the first grade lessons went on I heard the sound of sirens and sirens and sirens, endlessly.
Of course I wanted to see the wreckage, but my mother would not allow it. It was too grisly but my mother wouldn’t even say that. I was not allowed to go near that area until it was fully cleaned up.
Interestingly (or not) that summer my whole family went to Colorado on the Exposition Flyer. (Why not the Denver Zephyr? My dad worked for the Pacific Fruit Express and we had passes on trains but pass passengers had to pay half-fare to rid a crack train when a secondary train was available. So we rode a secondary train to Denver, in this case the Exposition Flyer which the Burlington Bulletins tell us was the predecessor the famous CZ.)
Doug Hosler
On Aug 3, 2025, at 7:27 AM, Warren Hanson via groups.io <cbq4630=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hello everyone! I stumbled upin a documentary about the 1946 crash in Naperville. Maybe youve seen it, i just now stumbled upon it. If you have not seen, look it up. Done very well in my opinion.
Be well my fellow Q fans!
Warren Hanson
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