Memorial service marks 50th anniversary of deadly Illinois Central train crash

CHICAGO (CBS) — Fifty years later, it is the anniversary of an unthinkable commute — the catastrophic prepare crash simply south of McCormick Place that left dozens of individuals killed and tons of harm. 

On Sunday survivors and their family members got here collectively to recollect the tragic day. 

Probably essentially the most emotional a part of the service was not remembering these sudden goodbyes, shedding family members 50 years in the past, however the introductions, assembly individuals for the primary time, all related by this life altering occasion. 

Lots of the individuals there have been both on the prepare that day or knew those that had been. Sunday all of them sat subsequent to one another inside the primary Unitarian Church of Chicago. 

On the morning of Oct. 30, 1972, one Illinois Central prepare overshot the twenty seventh Avenue station and reversed. The prepare behind it was not capable of cease in time. It collided with teh prepare in entrance of it. 

Forty-five individuals died and 350 had been injured. 

Many there Sunday remembered simply how very important Michael Reese Hospital was. It’s now closed, however that day it was lower than 100 yards away from the accident. First responders got here instantly. 

It was a life altering day for thus many, together with Gwendolyn Ann Brinson Maybin. 

“To see individuals who handed, and I ponder why not me as a result of I used to be sitting within the entrance automotive on the outdated prepare. I want I’d’ve identified at that time that life is brief you do not know and you need to take every day that is what it’s which is a gift,” she mentioned. 

Since then prepare vehicles have the next structural normal — higher GPS and higher signaling.

These on the service Sunday have a bond that can final endlessly.