13 Feb 2025
During 1887 and 1888 my great grandfather Clarence worked on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, during that time he recorded what seem to be a remarkable number of accidents for an 18 month period. In all 5 or 6 are described in letters, and photographs show another couple which I can’t match to written descriptions. Not all resulted in fatalities but most did, a seemingly appalling safety record for a railway even in the 1880’s, but presumably quite exciting for the then 18 year old Clarence.
This is his account of one wreck
From a letter dated Bowling Green December 10th 1887.
(referring to Saturday 3rd December 1887)
"At 10.30pm Jendy came in and said a wreck had just taken place and that the wrecking car will be passing in a few minutes, he wanted some lunch preparing and asked me to go with him. In five minutes I had my working clothes on and in another five minutes we heard the wrecking train. and jumped on it at the crossing when it slowed down for us. Jendy got on the engine and I into the caboose. Now it appeared that engine 411 which had been finished that day and had been steamed up and down the track during the afternoon as a trial to see that she was all right had left Bowling Green at 8 pm. for her destination, South Nashville.
At Franklin she was given orders to proceed but before the engine was out of sight the dispatcher found he had missed a late order and that there was freight on the way coming north. It was too late for anything to be done so as the track is much curved south of Franklin he guessed the wreck would take place and telegraphed to Bowling Green to prepare the wrecking car. He then ran away and has not been seen or heard of since.
The collision took place 3 miles from Franklin the light engine running full tilt into the engine 162 which was heading north with a heavy freight train. On our way we stopped a few times to pick up section men and Jendy came and told me that fat Gorman the fireman on number 162 had been killed and was buried in the wreck. We arrived at the wreck at 11 pm. We came first to the 411, the front part of the frames were broken off at the cylinders, the two front pairs of driving wheels were off the track and the engine was slewed round. About 20 feet forward found remains of her truck twisted into a useless mass.
About 120 feet from the 411 we came to the worst part of the wreck, engine 162 was on her right side and down an embankment with her tank crushed up against the boiler head, behind were six cars piled up one on the other and completely smashed. Then came 8 more of the cars but only slightly damaged. Behind these the cars had not left the track. By peering into the wreckage with our lantern we could see the fireman’s body jammed against the boiler head and we could hear him sizzling against the still hot metal.
My job was with the 411 and in about ½ an hour we had her on the track and hauled her back to Franklin, the wrecking car then returned to the accident while I remained on the 411 to dismantle her rods etc. A few hours previously she had left Bowling Green like a new engine and was now an awful site. All the coal from the tank had been shot onto the foot plate and the sides of the tank bulged out by the force of the water when the collision occurred. I was left alone with her in the siding at 2 am, in three hours I had all the rods off, which was not bad work on the dark night with only a railway lamp to see by.
About 7 am the wrecking car came and also Jendy, we had some lunch sitting in the cab of the 411 and then returned to the other part of the wreck. The track had been cleared and repaired to allow trains to pass. I took the rods off the 162 along with Dick Simon who has been sent for from Bowling Green. The engineer of the 162 had been badly hurt and the brakeman had his leg broken, the engineer and fireman of the 411 jumped off just in time and were not hurt. The fireman of the 162 was putting in a shovel full of coal at the time of the collision.
I worked all day on the engine and walked back to Franklin for a meal and returned to Bowling Green on number 2 arriving at 10 pm. I went to bed and slept until 2 pm Monday. The engines will not be repaired at Bowling Green. The 411 is going to Nashville and the 162 to Louisville. Three of the cars which are past mending will be burned at the scene of the wreck. On Friday the 162 was brought here and will be sent to Louisville in a few days."
