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Crush Local Post
Crush Local Post started in 2002 and has produced
several issues in the series including Christmas issues in 2002 and 2003. The series on hiatus since 2004 and has
not produced any new issues until now with the release of the 2008 Christmas issue.
Crush Local Post is based on
an actual event near Waco, Texas in 1896 when the Katy Railroad staged a promotion by crashing two locmotives head on in a
spectacular crash. The event was promoted for several months by passenger representative George W. Crush who staged
the event in an open area just north of Waco. The promoters were expecting perhaps 20,000 people to attend, but estimates
ended up closer to 40,000 in the end. Vendors from all over the state set up booths and a tent was borrowed from Ringling
Bros. for use as an eating facility and a railroad depot was built to welcome people to "Crush, Texas" (so named for it's
promoter). This was not an actual town, but more or less a town created for just a single day. In the late afternoon,
the signal was given to send the locomotives on their final run and when they crashed head on, the boilers exploded flinging
hot shrapnel into the crowed, killing at least 2 people (reports are up to 6) and putting out one eye of a Dallas Morning
News reporter.
The event has been immortalized in a song by Texas singer/songwriter Brian Burns (www.brianburnsmusic.com).
The song is titled The Crash at Crush and that is how I came across this event and have based my Crush Local Post series around
it. All stamps in the series have a railroad theme.
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