Great Train Wreck of 1918
The Great Train Wreck of 1918 occurred on July 9, 1918, in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Two passenger trains, operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway ("NC&StL"), collided head-on, costing at least 101 lives and injuring an additional 171. It is considered the worst rail accident in U.S. history, though estimates of the death toll of this accident overlap with that of the Malbone Street Wreck in Brooklyn, New York, the same year.
| Great Train Wreck of 1918 | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | July 9, 1918 7:20 am |
| Location | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°07′46″N 86°50′53″W |
| Country | United States |
| Operator | Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway |
| Incident type | Collision |
| Cause | Human error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Deaths | 101 |
| Injured | 171 |
The two trains involved were the No. 4, scheduled to depart Nashville for Memphis, Tennessee, at 7:00 a.m.; and the No. 1 from Memphis, about half an hour late for a scheduled arrival in Nashville at 7:10 a.m. At about 7:20 a.m., the two trains collided while traversing a section of single track line known as "Dutchman's Curve" west of downtown Nashville, in the present-day neighborhood of Belle Meade. The trains were each traveling at an estimated 50 to 60 mph (80 to 100 km/h). The impact derailed them both, and destroyed several wooden cars.
An investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) attributed the cause of the accident to several factors, notably serious errors by the crew of train No. 4 and interlocking tower operators, all of whom failed to properly account for the presence of train No. 1 on the line. The ICC also pointed to a lack of a proper system for the accurate determination of train positions and noted that the wooden construction of the cars greatly increased the number of fatalities.