Talk:Angola Horror

Lateral movement
"This allowed 3⁄8 inch (9.5 mm) lateral movement on the Ohio gauge" If the track gauges were different by 1.5 inches it seems this would allow 3/4 inch movement in each direction, not 3/8. Unknowntouncertain (talk) 16:38, 18 December 2019 (UTC)


 * I suspect the taper on the flanges constrained the movement to less than the absolute difference in the gauges. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:589:300:CA70:749A:6A4A:8F4C:279F (talk) 01:40, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

aftermath - iron cars
There was a sentence "replace wooden cars with iron", which I have removed, because it didn't happen. Railroad passenger cars made of iron were never used. To a small extent, wooden cars were reinforced with iron bars in the 1890s, but it was not common. The replacement for wooden cars was steel cars, however these were not a response to the Angola disaster, as they did not appear until around 1910, some 40 years later. Those interested could confirm this (and learn much about the subject) in John White's comprehesive work on the subject, "The American Railroad Passenger Car".

(FWIW, I've tried to read the cited source, to see if it was miscopied or misinterpreted, but unfortunately the link is 404 and searching the source site shows no trace of the document). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:589:300:CA70:749A:6A4A:8F4C:279F (talk) 01:37, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

Cause of accident
The factbox says ‘poor track condition’. This is not supported by the article, which says it was a defective axle. Valetude (talk) 10:46, 3 May 2020 (UTC)