Why Railroads BANNED the Hook Connecting Train Cars

Before modern train couplers existed, railroad workers had to stand between moving rail cars and connect them by hand. Not after the train stopped. While the steel was still rolling toward them. In this video, we break down the deadliest mechanical system in railroad history, why thousands of workers were mutilated by a problem engineers had already solved, and how one simple invention sat ignored for 25 years because the industry couldn’t coordinate around it. Because the system wasn’t broken when it crushed workers… it was functioning exactly as designed.