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reported problems, the trestle collapsed. Nine passengers were killed, including two
Confederate veterans, and more than two dozen were injured. Also killed was civil engineer Cornelius G. Cox, who had earlier designed the current culvert and earthen fill to replace the unstable trestle. Former Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, another passenger, survived.
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One of the deceased was
Cornelius G. Cox, the civil engineer who had designed a culvert to replace the trestle, which was known to be unstable. After the collapse, the area was filled with earth and a granite culvert placed over the stream, per his design. One of the surviving passengers was former
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Here, on 12 July 1888, occurred one of
Virginia's largest train disasters, the wreck of the Virginia Midland Railroad's Train 52, the Piedmont Airline, as it crossed the 44-foot-high, 487-foot-long trestle, called the Fat Nancy for a local African American woman who served as trestle watcher and
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The incident is named for the trestle, known as the "Fat Nancy" for the woman who served as the trestle watcher. The trestle's official name was
Browning Trestle, for the owners of the property on which it sits, or Two-Runs trestle for the creek that ran below. A local African-American woman who
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By 1888, many states had experienced memorable wrecks with high death tolls. Though
Virginia newspapers were full of reports of small train accidents, there were typically few deaths. The wreck at Fat Nancy was Virginia's first experience with a train crash that resulted in multiple deaths and
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The culvert that replaced the trestle still stands today, where it allows Laurel Creek to flow through. Tracks no longer cross the culvert—they're now to the south. The
Virginia Department of Historic Resources erected a historical marker at the site of the wreck, along
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large-scale injuries. Five passengers, one rail employee, one mail clerk, and one newsboy were killed and another mail clerk died from his injuries the following day. At least twenty-six were injured, though some reports list a higher number.
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waved to train conductors and occasionally received a shovelful of coal inspired locals to rename the trestle as Fat Nancy's trestle. The
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reported that the woman's actual name was Emily
Jackson and described a woman of "great size and uncouth appearance."
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The site of accident as it appears in 2022, the trestle replaced with a culvert.
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Annual Report of the railroad commissioner of the state of
Virginia, 1888-1889
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269:(Richmond, Va: R.F. Walker, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1889):
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Accidents and incidents involving
Virginia Midland Railroad
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401:Site includes an 1888 photo of the wreck.
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326:. November 24, 1888. p. 3
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208:Maurer, David (2009-01-04).
493:Orange County, Virginia, US
373:"Another Terrible Accident"
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382:. July 12, 1888. p. 2
549:Railway accidents in 1888
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499:Mud Run, Pennsylvania, US
473:Railway accidents in 1888
406:Photos of the site today.
132:Virginia Midland Railroad
75:Virginia Midland Railroad
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350:"Wreck at the Fat Nancy"
242:"Wreck at the Fat Nancy"
505:Borki, Russia (Ukraine)
429:38.239167°N 78.149422°W
170:Virginia State Route 20
122:was one of the largest
58:Orange County, Virginia
120:Wreck at the Fat Nancy
22:Wreck at the Fat Nancy
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156:Lieutenant General
380:Alexandria Gazette
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213:The Daily Progress
124:railroad disasters
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320:"Local Brevities"
300:Missing or empty
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154:Confederate
543:Categories
420:78°08′58″W
417:38°14′21″N
386:2020-12-14
359:2010-12-18
247:2010-12-18
176:References
88:Statistics
495:(12 July)
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128:Virginia
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109:Injured
64:Country
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39:Details
101:Deaths
93:Trains
376:(PDF)
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