A Tragedy at Bourbonnais

A jumbled pile of derailed locomotives and train cars marks the site of the fatal March 15, 1999, “City of New Orleans” train wreck. Eleven people were killed and more than 100 injured in the crash at the McKnight Road grade crossing. (Kankakee County Museum Photo Archive)

By Jack KlaseyMarch 15, 2025

At approximately 9:45 p.m. on Monday, March 15, 1999, the elements of a tragedy came together at the McKnight Road crossing of the Illinois Central Railroad tracks in Bourbonnais.

On McKnight Road, an eastbound flatbed semi-trailer truck carrying 37,000 pounds of steel reinforcing rod slowly entered the crossing. The warning lights were flashing, but the crossing gate arms had not yet lowered.

On the railroad tracks, a short distance to the north of the crossing, was Amtrak Train #59, the “City of New Orleans.” The southbound train, consisting of two diesel locomotives and 14 cars, was moving at 79 miles per hour.

The Amtrak engineer spotted the truck crossing the tracks, and activated the train’s emergency braking system. It was too late—the train struck the flatbed trailer with a horrifying crash. The trailer and its load of steel rods caused the two locomotives and eleven of the train’s fourteen cars to derail. A number of the cars overturned, and one —a sleeper car—was angled on top of another passenger car.

The March 15 train wreck would be measured as the worst in Kankakee County’s history, with eleven passengers dead and more than 100 passengers and Amtrak crew injured. The response by emergency personnel was prompt and massive: “We were called in on a 511 alarm, that’s the highest alarm we have in the county,” a fire official told the Kankakee Daily Journal. “It mobilized every emergency unit in Kankakee County.” That mobilization included 57 ambulances, and more than 200 firefighters from 35 area departments.

The eleven dead were passengers in the heavily damaged sleeper car, which had been located behind the locomotives and a baggage car. Injuries, ranging from cuts and bruises to severe burns and puncture wounds, sent 112 people to local hospitals—65 were transported to St. Mary’s, and 47 to Riverside Medical Center.

The Daily Journal described the response to the crash: “Workers from the nearby Birmingham Steel plant were the first to rush to the aid of the passengers. They were able to rescue a number of victims from the burning sleeper car….Bourbonnais Fire, mobilized by a 9:50 p.m. call, were already arriving at the crash scene. ‘They had two cars on fire right away and also they were dealing immediately with extraction,’ said Herscher Fire Chief Alan Ramsey, who had been named spokesman at the scene, while Bourbonnais Fire officials coordinated efforts with other fire departments and rescue crews….Firefighters rushed to aid those who had clawed their way clear and those still trapped inside. They clambered atop the shattered train to hose down the fires, fearing some passenger were still trapped alive inside.”

On March 17, the Journal’s front page featured an editorial with the heading, “Community’s big heart on display.” It noted that the tragic event included “gentle moments that showed off ‘the better angels of our nature.’ Firefighters and emergency personnel, both paid and volunteer, converged on the area from up to 100 miles away. Extra staff showed up at the hospitals….Common citizens were among the bravest heroes of all. Steelworkers from Birmingham rushed to the scene. With nothing between them and the fire but flannel shirts and blue jeans, [they] saved lives. One worker cradled a Down Syndrome little girl until she could be rescued….In the days and weeks ahead, there will be more to do. Even as the national television cameras fold up, residents here will pitch in, when and where needed to rebuild lives and bodies.”

Within hours after the fatal collision, investigations were under way by federal, state, and local authorities. Their efforts focused on the actions of John R. Stokes, the 40-year-old driver of the flatbed truck that was struck by the Amtrak passenger train. Stokes, whose truck cab had cleared the tracks before the train hit the trailer, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board placed the fault for the collision on Stokes’ failure to yield at the grade crossing. Illinois State Police investigators agreed with the statements of Stokes and eyewitnesses that, while the crossing lights were flashing, the crossing gate safety arms had not descended until after the truck entered the crossing.

In August 2004, Stokes was charged with manslaughter and with violations of logbook and hours of service regulations. He was found guilty, and sentenced to two years in prison. At his sentencing, Judge Clark Erickson noted that, while it was not proven that a lack of rest was a factor in the truckdriver’s actions, he believed Stokes would have been more able to make safe driving decisions if he had been fully rested.

The 1999 tragedy was the third fatal train collision at the McKnight Road crossing in a nearly-35-year period. On June 25, 1964, Harry DuBois was killed when a southbound train struck his car; on April 11, 1988, Annette Hanshew died when a passenger train collided with her car in the intersection. On January 17, 2006, the Bourbonnais Village Board voted to permanently close the McKnight Road grade crossing.

Jack Klasey is a former Journal reporter and a retired publishing executive. He can be contacted at jwklasey@comcast.net.