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I remember reading in a coffee table book many years ago that there were terrific numbers of Americans killed in train wrecks in the latter part of the 19th century. In the thousands in some years. But I have been unable recently to confirm any figures. Does anyone have any statistics on USA train wreck deaths from that era?
Train wrecks were only a small part of the death toll. I suspect your book was conflating all railroad accidents into 'train wrecks."
I have Vermont railroad commissioner reports from around that era. In one, I see a list of accidents from July 1, 1898 to July 1, 1900. Over the two year period there were 41 deaths and 45 reported injuries. 24 of the deaths were from walking or being on the track, 7 were employees, 17 were not passengers, but just incidental people trespassing on RR property. There were 8 highway crossing deaths, and 4 people fell from trains.
A number of people used to use railroad tracks as paths, and didn't realize how fast or quietly a train could overtake them. Then there were the Darwin award recipients. I remember reading in various reports of deaf people killed while walking the tracks.
Some fatal incidents during the period-
run over and killed by excursion train while intoxicated
sitting on the tracks
climbing ladder and was hit while passing car on siding
found dead on tracks
brakeman stumbled and fell, was run over
asleep on tracks
walking deaf on tracks
yardmaster "staking" cars and stake slipped
brakeman walking top of train struck bridge
clearing ice from track, struck by engine
spooked horse backed cutter into train
shifting cars, fell from top
walking on track in raging snowstorm
suicide by train
attempting to board moving train
attempt to jump from one moving car to another and fell
In 1883 at the age of 74, my great-great grandmother was killed in a train derailment just outside of Flint, MI. That's at least one death in that year
I've got a copy of the newspaper article reporting the incident.
There was a lot more travel by train back then and the conditions of the tracks and trains were a lot worse than in the last 50 years. The numbers wouldn't surprise me that much.
I remember reading in a coffee table book many years ago that there were terrific numbers of Americans killed in train wrecks in the latter part of the 19th century. In the thousands in some years. But I have been unable recently to confirm any figures. Does anyone have any statistics on USA train wreck deaths from that era?
The dicovery or history chnnel had a show on teh history of the railroads in the uSA. At their peak it was like ten thousand killed in a year. Pretty much constant wrecks form what i saw.
Lots of travel by train, less standardization and consistent quality control and when there was an accident you just didn't have the medical help back then. So any serious injury would quite likely end up fatal...even a bad break or deep gash could become infected etc.
Interesting topic.
There are about 8-9k car deaths each year in the US...with 1880's medical technology and slowed response times it's not hard to imagine that number easily being 5x higher.
A recently published book you may find interesting. Its entitiled "Death Rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety 1828-1965" by Mark Aldrich. See Link: Death rode the rails: American ... - Google Books
There are about 8-9k car deaths each year in the US...with 1880's medical technology and slowed response times it's not hard to imagine that number easily being 5x higher.
It is 4-5 times higher. About 40,000 people are killed in car accidents every year in the U.S.
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