{"id":11285,"date":"2026-09-15T18:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T22:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=11285"},"modified":"2026-09-15T08:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:59:05","slug":"selma-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/selma-1994\/","title":{"rendered":"Selma Amtrak Train Derailment – May 16, 1994"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is a blog version of a Facebook posting from September 13, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Looking back at the May 1994 derailment in Selma that killed a crew member and injured 121 people. Found a couple photos from newspaper coverage. Looking for others.<\/p>\n

On May 16, 1994, at 4:36 a.m., Amtrak Train 87 and CSX freight train 176 passed each other on parallel tracks on the south side of Selma in Johnston County.<\/p>\n

The southbound Silver Meteor was traveling from New York City to Jacksonville, Florida. Aboard were 415 passengers, five operating crew members, and 18 onboard-service employees. It had two locomotives and 18 cars.<\/p>\n

The northbound freight train had three locomotives and 52 cars. Two of the cars were empty. With some 4,449 trailing tons and a length of 6,188 feet, it was a trailer-on-flatcar\/container-on-flatcar intermodal train.<\/p>\n

The Accident<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the two trains passed each other, a truck trailer either fell or was falling off the freight train and into the path of the passenger train.<\/p>\n

The 51st rail car was an 89-foot flatcar. Two truck trailers were aboard. The one that fell off was 45 feet long and carried some 43,400 pounds of kitty litter. Its cargo was being shipped by Mid-Florida Mining Company of Lowell, Florida.<\/p>\n

The Amtrak train was traveling about 70 mph (later research estimated its speed at approximately 75 mph), and its two engineers had virtually no time to react. The approximate point of impact was at latitude 35.52780, longitude \u221278.28920, along the CSX tracks near Parrish Street, on the southwest side of downtown.<\/p>\n

The two engines \u201cveered off the tracks, one of them flipping and landing 150 feet away,\u201d reported the next day\u2019s Raleigh News & Observer. The other went \u201csmashing into a signal tower.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant Engineer Robert Brooks Woodward, 41, was killed. Engineer William Black was critically injured.<\/p>\n

Both locomotives and 17 of the train\u2019s 18 cars derailed, \u201cthe jolt waking the passengers and tossing many of them through the darkness.\u201d Only the 51st flatcar on the freight train derailed.<\/p>\n

Most of the passenger cars came to rest upright in what later reports described as a \u201cboggy area east of the track.\u201d None of the cars suffered any major intrusion into the occupied spaces.<\/p>\n

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Sound of Crashing Steel<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sound of \u201ccrashing steel\u201d also awakened several people who lived nearby and came to the scene to help.<\/p>\n

The crash was reported by a motorist on U.S. Highway 70, about a half-mile away, who dialed 911 using a car phone. Within two minutes, two passengers on the train with cellular phones also dialed 911.<\/p>\n

Selma Police Officer R. C. Boyette was the first officer on the scene. He \u201cparked his car behind a grocery store near the tracks and jogged down a path where he had once chased shoplifters.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ran from car to car to check for injured passengers. Reaching the front of the train, he found it \u201ctotally demolished.\u201d Looking through a shattered window of the engine with a flashlight, he could see one of the engineers, who was trapped inside.<\/p>\n

Boyette told the newspaper, \u201cThe fire was flaming up, and there was diesel fuel all around me.\u201d He added, \u201cWe kicked the rest of the window out and attempted to go inside, but the smoke and fire forced us back.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n

[1] Later reports said that Amtrak 357\u2019s fuel tank ruptured and diesel fuel ignited outside the operating compartment. Amtrak employees used portable extinguishers to suppress the fire. The NTSB later concluded that the fire did not cause either the assistant engineer\u2019s death or the engineer\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u201cthroughout the shattered remnants of the train,\u201d passengers and crew were \u201corganizing their own rescue efforts.\u201d Some passengers \u201cused bed sheets to climb down from windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dining-car waiter Albert Hill, \u201cwho had survived six Amtrak crashes,\u201d set out in search of people who needed help. \u201cHe found a car full of them, all 49 members of the James Madison Middle School Chorus from Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responders Arrive<\/strong><\/p>\n

By 5:00 a.m., responders had arrived from \u201cfour fire stations\u201d and \u201cthree police departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NTSB report later noted that 60 firefighters and 50 EMS personnel responded, with 18 EMS vehicles. There were five fire engines, one tanker, two brush trucks, and three equipment or rescue trucks, plus 25 police vehicles.<\/p>\n

Arriving responders found most of the passenger cars \u201ccompletely off the tracks and listing at angles of 45 degrees or more.\u201d Two cars near the middle of the train \u201clay perpendicular to the tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Johnston County Memorial Hospital in Smithfield, staff \u201cswung into disaster alert\u201d and mobilized \u201cevery available doctor and nurse.\u201d Two triage units were \u201cup and running\u201d before the first victim arrived at 5:39 a.m.<\/p>\n

By midmorning, nearly 300 people \u201chad been examined,\u201d with 75 of them \u201cassigned numbers, written on their hands, to speed the process.\u201d Seven were flown to Duke Hospital in Durham, and the rest were treated at the National Guard Armory.<\/p>\n

At the armory, the Red Cross established a separate evaluation team, and more than 100 volunteers arrived to give the passengers whatever help they could.<\/p>\n

Local businesses also assisted by bringing supplies and food.<\/p>\n

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Emergency Response<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the NTSB report:<\/p>\n

60 firefighters
\n50 EMS personnel
\n30 police officers
\nFive fire engines (pumpers?)
\nOne tanker
\nThree equipment or rescue trucks
\n18 EMS vehicles
\nTwo brush trucks
\n25 police vehicles<\/p>\n

The Smithfield fire chief served as incident commander.<\/p>\n

Johnston County Memorial Hospital was notified immediately and implemented its mass-casualty plan. A second hospital was also used, and the seriously injured engineer was ultimately treated at Duke.<\/p>\n

The county had conducted a large disaster exercise in January 1994. Norfolk Southern had provided the county\u2019s emergency agencies with a two-hour railroad-familiarization program in February, although CSX reportedly had not provided comparable training in the preceding 15 years. Amtrak conducted a three-hour training program for Johnston County responders in January 1995, after the wreck.<\/p>\n

Casulaties<\/strong><\/p>\n

From various sources:<\/p>\n