For whatever reason, the driver of a car did not heed the flashing lights, deciding to cross the railroad tracks on this day in 1940. The rear of the vehicle was clipped by the non-stop freight train.

The car was hurled into the side of the Waterbury train depot with so much force, that it bounced back into the side of the moving train. The car slammed from one to the other until it was finally thrown around the end of the depot, bringing down the porch roof on top it.

Two of the four passengers died, the other two were hospitalized. Although the car had punched a hole right through the depot’s brick walls, no one inside the depot was injured.

Image courtesy the Waterbury Historical Society.