Summer Song Challenge, Day 11: Pat

Prompt: "A song that reminds you of your hometown"

Selected by Pat

"Crazy Train"

Ozzy Osbourne

Blizzard of Ozz, 1980

On July 17, 1856, two steam trains, the Shakamaxon and the Aramingo, collided head-on not far from the North Pennsylvania Railroad's Wissahickon station. The crash, the result of a late departure and speed miscalculation, resulted in a boiler explosion and full derailment of Shakamaxon. Approximately 60 people died in the wreck, mostly from being burned alive in the overturned train cars. It was the deadliest train wreck in American history to that point.

During the rescue efforts, a local woman named Mary Ambler opened her home as a makeshift hospital. In 1869, the railroad renamed Wissahickon Station to Ambler Station in her honor. When the local town incorporated on 1888, it took the name Ambler as well.

I grew up in this haunted-ass town. I didn't even cover the old asbestos factory or any of the other stuff that makes it the perfect setting for a Stephen King novel. Gay Talese once wrote a book about Ambler. I'm sure it's fine.