11 people died in the Wreck of the Old 97 mail train near Danville in 1903
Source: Encyclopedia Virginia, Women and Men Surveying the Wreck of the Old 97
11 people died in the Wreck of the Old 97 mail train near Danville in 1903
Source: Encyclopedia Virginia, Women and Men Surveying the Wreck of the Old 97
The most famous train wreck in Virginia is the "Wreck of the Old 97" on September 27, 1903 outside Danville. It has been memorialized in song and recognized by historical markers. The engineer of the the Southern Railway mail train, Old 97, was speeding on its trip between Monroe, Virginia and Spencer, North Carolina. The train was famous for rarely being late, but it had arrived in Monroe an hour behind schedule.
At Stillhouse trestle, the coal-burning steam engine was pulling the train too fast for the curve. The train derailed and crashed down 45 feet into the ravine of Stillhouse Branch. The train caught fire and burned much of the mail. One package was filled with canaries, and they managed to escape and fly away.
There were 11 deaths and 7 injuries. Several people who survive had leaped from the speeding train before it crossed the bridge.
The "Wreck of the Old 97" ballad became a hit song. Dispute about its authorship and rights to revenue from record sales spurred the first copyright lawsuit.1
The 1889 wreck at Thaxton near Peaks of Otter is less famous, but 18 people died in that crash. The Norfolk & Western Railway's passenger train was headed east towards Lynchburg. It was late at night when the train pulled out of Buford, on the way to Thaxton and then Liberty (now Bedford). Heavy rains had delayed the journey. The conductor knew from telegraph messages that the tracks were flooded in places, and rocks could have fallen onto them. In at least one spot, a member of the crew walked along the track holding a lantern while the locomotive crept forward.
Around 1:25am on the morning of July 2, 1889, an embankment along Wolf Creek collapsed underneath the weight of the train. The rails, locomotive, and cars slid into the creek. Many of the 74 people on the train, including 54 passengers, were trapped for hours. Some of the 18 who died were burned when the train caught fire.2
when the embankment collapsed and the passenger train at Thaxton slid into Wolf Creek on July 2, 1889, 18 people died
Source: Virginia Statewide Rail Plan, Statewide Rail Database
The Wreck at the Fat Nancy killed nine passengers. On July 12, 1888, one of the coaches on the Virginia Midland train fell down through the rotten timbers of the trestle over Laurel Creek south of the town of Orange. One of those killed was the civil engineer who had designed a fill-and-culvert replacement for the trestle. That safer crossing was completed after the wreck.
Passengers had to crawl out of the wreckage, but the train did not catch fire. A news story reported:3
when the embankment collapsed and the passenger train at Thaxton slid into Wolf Creek on July 2, 1889, 18 people died
Source: Library of Congress, Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser (July 12, 1788)