Deerfield railway accident

1886 railroad accident in Massachusetts

Deerfield railway accidentDate| April 7, 1886

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Time| 6 pm
Location| Deerfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates| 42°32′25″N 72°39′18″W﻿ / ﻿42.54028°N 72.65500°W﻿ / 42.54028; -72.65500
Cause| Washout
Deaths| 11
Non-fatal injuries| 36

The Deerfield railway accident occurred on April 7, 1886, outside of Deerfield, Massachusetts. 11 people were killed after a washout caused Passenger Train No. 35 to fall 100 feet down an embankment.

## Accident

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Around 4:45 pm Passenger Train No. 35, made up of an engine, tender, two baggage cars (one express car and one post office car), a smoking car (belonging to the Fitchburg Railroad), two passenger coaches (one belonging to Fitchburg the other to the Troy and Boston Railroad), and a parlor car, departed North Adams, Massachusetts, for Boston with 48 passengers on board. The train was traveling on the Hoosac Tunnel line, which was owned and maintained by the state and operated by the Fitchburg Railroad.[1]

Shortly before 6 pm, the outer rail and a portion of the track between the Bardwell's Ferry and West Deerfield stations gave way due to a washout. The locomotive was wrecked and cars were thrown 100 feet (30 m) down an embankment.[1] Three of the cars caught fire almost immediately.[2] All of the cars except for the Troy and Boston coach were destroyed. 47 of the 48 passengers were injured and 11 were killed instantly or died from their injuries.[1]

A special train containing physicians, reporters, and others who could assist was dispatched from Greenfield, Massachusetts. The steepness of the embankment made rendering aid very difficult. The injured were transported to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and the deceased to Greenfield.[3]

## Investigation

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The Massachusetts Railroad Commission found that the embankment slide was caused by three construction faults. The first was that wooden crib-work had been buried under dirt and rock, causing the wood to rot in the moist soil. The second was the cancellation of plans to build a culvert to drain water from a ditch on the north side of the track to the river, due to lack of funding. Lastly, the weakened southern slope of the embankment had been weighed down by broken rock that had been dumped there during the addition of a second track.[1]

## See also

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* List of disasters in Massachusetts by death toll

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners (1887). Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 1887. pp. 64–68. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
2. ^ "Wrecked in a washout". The New York Times. April 8, 1886.
3. ^ "Ten Killed In the Deerfield Disaster". The Boston Daily Globe. April 9, 1886.