Today is the 30th anniversary of the tragic MARC-Amtrak train crash just south of the historic Talbot Avenue Bridge. The crash killed 11 people on the MARC train, including three crew members and eight passengers. An additional 26 people were injured.
Residents of the communities on both sides of the train tracks heard the crash and some were the very first responders to the horrific scene. The historic Talbot Avenue Bridge was the gathering place for residents on both sides of the train tracks who came to see what had happened.
Some community members’ memories of the crash:
A crunching sound, then smoke rising
I remember the crash very well. We lived on Grace Church Road, near the (Talbot Avenue) bridge at the time. I happened to be home with my 3-year-old daughter due to the snowfall when the crash occurred and heard the crunching sound of the two trains hitting one another on the track behind the apartment buildings. Then I saw the smoke rising in the air. It was one of the worst feelings I have ever had. I couldn’t see the crash site from our backyard as it was screened by brushy areas and then by the apartments. Anyone who was home was aware something had happened, then heard the sirens and saw the smoke. Many rushed up to the Talbot Avenue Bridge but we couldn’t see much. I remember that it was getting dark and snow had fallen. I remember the aftermath with passengers climbing up the back and being shepherded into the apartment buildings for shelter. I remember the horror of hearing how the crash had happened and that it was preventable and how many victims it had claimed. It makes me very sad to remember that day and time. It was a terrible tragedy!
— V. Hadfield (North Woodside)
See more photos via WTOP,
Heard calls on police radio and knew it was bad
I remember the train crash very well. I got a call from my mother (in Lyttonsville) that day. My sister explained that the crash sounded like rumbling in distance that was getting closer to the house, then an explosion. The rumbling was so loud. She went upstairs and looked out the door. There was a ton of smoke. Is that a train out there?! (she wondered.)
At that time I was a police officer. I could hear calls on the radio and knew it was bad. I parked on the corner of Pennsylvania, left my truck there and walked up. People were out there. (This was before barriers were set up.) The response team was looking for people. I got down on the tracks. The tracks were hot. It was scary. I’ve been around trains many times and never seen a train tipped like this. It was bugging me so much. It got bad down there, and I couldn’t stay there. I walked up the tracks to Woodlin (Elementary School), then through North Woodside to the (Talbot Avenue) bridge. Along the way, people asked if I was okay. They saw that I was dirty.
When I went over the bridge it was real sad. A lot of people came out on the bridge the first couple of weeks, then it got quiet. The seasons continued. Snow fell upon the crashed trains. The trains sat there for a while, a couple months. Every time I drove through I would see the trains still there. At night it was real spooky. Spooky, not haunting. Just really sad.
Every time I went up to the bridge, people were there, and I always talked to someone different, someone I didn’t know. I shared that I grew up here and that something like this had never happened in my life, not here.
— Phil Johnson (Lyttonsville)
Difficult to believe what saw
I just remember being overwhelmed with disbelief upon seeing this tragedy. It was unthinkable that something like this would happen in our neighborhood. In high school, I would hang out with friends in the Park Sutton (condos) and in the apartments near the tracks on Rosemary Hills Drive after class. Just steps from this site, about 20 years earlier. It was so difficult to believe what I saw.
I remember the (Talbot Avenue) bridge being open to pedestrians (maybe cars too) afterward. I also remember that I didn’t want to be disrespectful or seem like a gawker, so I only took a few photos.
–Howard Kaufman (formerly of Rosemary Hills)
A loud noise while preparing dinner
In ’96, my wife and I were living on Leonard Drive, about 2-3 blocks from the accident as the crow flies. My own memories of that day are limited to hearing a loud noise while preparing dinner with our 3- and 5-year-olds. News didn’t travel as fast then, so we had limited information until the next morning. Like many neighbors, we ventured down to the Talbot Bridge to get a look and take photos of the tangled cars. I didn’t understand until later that the bodies of those who died had not yet been removed from the wreckage.
— Mark (Rosemary Hills)
Thought it was an odd snow thunderclap
When the crash happened here in late afternoon, a snowy day, a loud boom covered the area. We thought it was an odd snow thunderclap. Woodlin Elementary School served as a staging area for the responders.
— Gus Bauman (North Woodside)
A shaking of the earth
I lived a couple blocks away and remember the thunderous echo. I was walking through the (Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville) park and heard the earth shake. I was on pavement and could feel the shaking (of the ground). I did not immediately run over to the site of the crash but saw smoke rising. I later saw on the news and walked over, after the fire had (been put out).
Everybody felt bad. It was a very disturbing train accident event and time which many long-term community residents remember with great sadness.
— Joel Teitelbaum (Rosemary Hills)
A terrible shrieking metallic crash-sound
My husband and I were speaking with a neighbor that day when we all heard an unmistakable and terrible shrieking metallic crash-sound and saw a cloud of black smoke rise shortly thereafter. Then came the sound of many, many, many sirens. I walked to the bridge later on that night and looked down on the jagged remains of the train cars under a cold, full moon, lending the scene below a stark and surreal feel. God bless the souls who died that day and their families.
— Eva Santorini (Rosemary Hills)
First to arrive
I was the first to arrive at the train! It was a blessing to be able to be there to assist the children that I had met months earlier at Harper’s Ferry Job Corp.
— Chester Chandler (former resident of Park Sutton condos on Lyttonsville Rd.)
While disagreement between the neighborhoods on either side of the historic Talbot Avenue Bridge over keeping open or closing the bridge preceded the train crash and continued after it, neighbors who lived on both sides of the bridge were united in helping those injured in the crash.
In times of trouble, and also in good times, may the new Talbot Avenue Bridge support positive connection and a shared sense of community between neighbors who live on both sides of the bridge.
And today, may we honor together the memory of those who perished in our community on February 16, 1996.
Talbot Avenue Bridge Community 