The Wreck of the Old 97
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- čas přidán 5. 04. 2010
- It was a still September morning in 1903, punctuated only by the occasional ringing of church bells and the chatter among citizens of Danville as they strolled home from their Sunday worship services. Like normal, the Southern Railway train, known as the Fast Mail, was heading into Danville from Monroe, Virginia, en route to Spencer, North Carolina. Only, on this particular Sunday, it was running faster than usual. Much faster than usual. As it reached the Stillhouse Trestle near Danvilles Highway 58, it sailed off the tracks, plummeting down an incline and collapsing into a dusty, metal-clanging heap as people from all across town rushed in to help dig for survivors. The Wreck of the Old 97 story was quickly made famous by a top-selling country tune. Today, local historian Lawrence McFall details the events that led up to one of the most famous train wrecks in history.
I live in Danville, I listen to this song every now and then, this is a song that will live forever. God bless those who made this video and those who perished in this horrific accident.
My family is from this area and Pop was telling me about this wreck last night.
Been singin’ this song for as long as I’ve been able to speak. Since a little child.
@Lawrence McFaul.... I could listen to your voice, your words a long time. Such a pure Virginian voice... it is so good, I repeated this video just to soak up your narration. 👏👏👏👏☝️☝️☝️👍👍👍👍
Lawrence is such an accomplished historian and story teller. Happy to hear you enjoyed it.
I've never been on a train or taken a train ride. This is number one on my bucket list. Would love to take a train home. Danville Va. my hometown.
Great video. Very informative. Knew of the crash from the song.
Thank you for listening and letting us know.
Very interesting commentary. I always liked Vernon Dalhart too. Had some of his recordings that I listened to as a kid. Thanks for sharing this.
I actually first heard this story not from the song, but passed down through my family from my great grandfather Charles Walker McGinnis who was the engineer of the train directly behind old 97 when it wrecked.
When the Lynchburg yard heard Stillhouse Trestle was closed, they thought it was the train behind 97 and not the mail train.
Love my hometown Danville and trains. Thanks for sharing.
My father was a Southern Railway employee, working out of Winston Salem, NC. He started November 11 1948 as an extra board brakeman. He used to run out of Spencer when they were short of men. I heard him talk about the place where the accident happened. It was amazing no more accidents happened than did. He used to work out of Asheville, NC also. The mountains there were very rugged. He said coming off the mountain at Old Fort they could only go 2-3 miles an hour or the train would be impossible to stop.
Thank you for sharing your dad's story.
Baldwin 1102 was in a class of free-wheeling engines. In earlier engines, the yeoman hopped off and set the steam settings on the side of the boiler to retain pressure in the cylinders. After the Southbound 97 incident, railroads complained about free wheeling engines, like riding a brake less bicycle downhill, and after strong complaints in the 1920,s, some engine builders changed the steam valves to resist freewheeling.
@@CraigBaughan-mg3hf thank you for that piece of the puzzle.
@@visitdanvilleva My great grandfather V.N. Camden began work with Southern about 1890 as a pipe fitter. He met the president of the company once in 1903 when the executive train, on the status board as Train 38, rolled into Lynchburg and the adjunct machine shop behind the station at Monroe.
My whole family is from Danville, except me. We were raised on the story and song about the Wreck of the Ol 97. I was surprised when I was seeing a great rock n roll band from Chapel Hill (Snatches of Pink) do a fantastic cover of the song. I just took the train from Lynchburg to Charlotte... I think of this story often, especially while riding the train. 🚂 ❤
Some years back my wife and I met an American mining engineer here in Great Britain, and asked where he was from. "Oh," he said, "A little place as you'll have never heard of called Danville, Kentucky." "Oh, yes," says I, "You mean the place where Steve Broady wrecked the Southern's Old 97 on the Cherry Creek trestle?" Our friend's jaw dropped. "Heck, I'd a never have expected a Limey to know the song, let alone the story behind it!"
Thanks for sharing that memory. It is actually Danville, Virginia, but you got the story right about Steve Brody!
@@visitdanvilleva Allow some small licence for memory lapse! Glad you enjoyed the tale.
I love that old song and sang it many many times to my family as we made trips from the east coast of the USA to the west in our stationwagon with our six kids. Jim Krumrei
Thanks for the story. My great grandfather David Graves George was a brakeman and a telegraph operator who knew Broady and the others that died in the crash. He was among the first people to arrive at the accident scene and claimed to have written The Wreck of the Old 97. He sued RCA and was awarded $65,000 in copyright residuals. RCA appealed the case three times and it went all the way to the Supreme Court where my great grandfather lost on a technicality. He filed the paperwork late and RCA was awarded the rights to the song.
That is such an interesting story! Thank you for sharing it. I have sent it on to Mr. McFall who narrated this podcast.
My great grandfather Charles Walker McGinnis was the engineer of the train directly behind old 97 when it wrecked.
My great grandfather worked in the Lynchburg yard office. In the late evening of that Saturday before, the yard crew prepared the next engine and coal car and waited to do a fast turnaround of the mail cars from Westbound 38 which was running one hour and 12 minutes late to Southbound 97. Having reached the one hour mark, the company was paying $1000 per minute for each delay.
Excellent presentation! Isnt it ironic how thru great tradgedy and pain comes some of the best music and songs ever written.When i first read the story behind this song I was totally blown away,I had no idea it was this bad!
My Dad references the song whenever my girlfriend gets nervous about him speeding. This is what Dad says, "Hey, I could be going downgrade making ninety miles an hour."
I have an historical document with photographs from the Danville Newspaper and the investigation. The side force broke parts of the flanges off the drivers as the side thrust ripped the spikes out of the ties and the rails off of their moorings (before the engine ended up tipping over.....)
Thank you for sharing that information!
It was not the whistle that people heard break into a scream, it was the train's breaks. The rescuers found the engineer alive, pinned in the wreck by his legs. The boiler was above him on the hill, ruptured and was leaking hot water. He screamed to have his legs cut off before the water got to him. They didn't and he was scalded to death, though not by steam.
Thanks for posting. Really enjoyed it.
DANVILLE VIRGINIA MY HOME TOWN VIRGINIA IS BEAUTIFUL I LOVED THE FALL OF THE YEAR I LIVE IN TEXAS BUT I WILL ALWAYS LOVE DANVILLE VIRGINIA ❤️❤️
Hey how are you doing today?
Very, very interesting recounting of a very tragic and historic happening. Oh my. Can you imagine? And we sing about it........Vernon Dalhart did do a lovely job with the song, and it's very sobering to hear the history behind it. First rate presentation, thank you!
I love being able to hear about historical events connected to music history and American history. I just finished the Erie Canal concert tour and I loved it.
Sir; splendid video, from a historian of railroad telegraphy to you :WELL DONE, SIR!
Nice video. As a direct descendent of family that included employees of the Southern Railway ,( and later Norfolk Southern to the present) that resided in close proximity of the wreck site that's pretty much the way it was explained to me. Thanks for the good presentation.
Thank you. Lawrence is an amazing local historian.
Know the song since my childhood in Germany from listening Johnny Cash,,,nice to hear now the background of all and i,ll plan a visit of this historical site. Thanky you for this info and regards to you all from Germany.
Thanks for sharing your memories with us. Hope you can visit in 2018!
Wow....what an informative and well-done presentation. my favorite versions of this songs are by Flatt & Scruggs...and by Roy Acuff.
Thanks for posting now I know the story. Cheers
Very well done. I recall hearing somewhere an audio recording of a witness to the wreck. A fascinating part of Danville history.
Good to hear from you! I remember a spectacular wreck in NYC while I lived there. A drunken engineer plowed into the 14th street subway station, causing huge structural damage and more. He left, dazed, and went to buy more booze. The station was closed for quite awhile. I don't remember the year. Maybe very early 1980s. This would have been on the IRT Lexington Avenue line, maybe the number 6 train but more likely the express train.
I remember that......While I can't remember the motorman's name, I do remember he miraculously climbed out of the motorman's cab, when up to street level and then went to a deli, if I'm not mistaken. All the time that the first responders (police, paramedics and firemen armed with all manner of extrication equipment) were toiling to get people, alive and dead out of the wreckage,
the motorman was watching this from the deli window while kickin' back a few beers. I later caught a Brooklyn-bound BMT (I think it was the "N" /Sea Beach train) home. That's where he was arrested and taken into custody. The 4, 5 and 6 trains run via Lex. Ave. But if I remember correctly, this was a Lexington/Jerome Ave 4 train on the IRT.
We happened upon the spot where this tragedy happened one night by accident when my girlfriend had a flat and a bad spare. The tow truck driver pointed it out to us as he took us back to his shop to repair the tire.
Great! Thank you.
We're a band from southern Brazil. You can check out our rendering of the classic Wreck Of Old '97 - Casco.
Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed playing it.
Realy nice ...., a pleasure to listen.
Great video!
this is the best account of that railroad run, so noted for the song "the Ole 97"
Excellent video! I’d always wondered about this tragedy. John Mellenkamp does a fantastic and haunting version of the song too. It’s off an album called ‘ Other People’s Stuff’.
Thank you for mentioning the Mellenkamp version - just listened and it is fantastic!
Great to hear the story of this, tragic though it be, it's a great presentation. Thanks!
反反复复反反复复天天天天发给过眼云烟0
*1
Can we all agree Dude Perfect are the perfect youtubers to watch while eating food
thankyou sir👍
I have been to Danville!
Hope you had a fun visit!
There were 11 folks who died in the wreck of ole 97.
I heard that the engine's cab had lost its original wooden cab as that had caught fire
I live here in nj there was an old line here the locomotives nake was the blue comet and she was fine. only 1 person died later on but that's the most famous train from where I live.
They didn't have the equipment to. They were the first on the scene after the accident and apparently he was pinned by a sizable chunk of metal. At least that's my understanding.
it took a steam dragline crane and anchor chain to roll the engine away from Broady whose legs remained pinned as workers removed the anchor chain in the photograph.
I sing this song at Karaoke at our American Legion in Smyrna Ga. Post 160
That is so cool! Thanks for letting us know.
My Dad used to sing that song to me when I was a little boy. My Grandfather lived on Henry Street at the time and he claimed to be one of the first on the scene. I read that Steve Brodie is buried in Saltville Virginia.
Hi up no y do it you no to up
X We y ok k ok
Me c ft u I hi yree as in m jhgfed hi up e do pending
@@jamesgoodman5233 SHUT UP SPAMBOT
My father said his grandfather was on the scene there too. Somewhere there is a picture of him standing near the wreakage. My family were the Powell's. Wesley was my great grandfather.
this year on sept 27 2013 will mark 110 yrs sence the wreck i will be in danville va and the trestle once stod im with the ntrack layout that will be there this yr at the station were the train was to get addtional orders
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Looks as though y'all fixed the information that I'm using for a Chuck Berry-based song project about Norfolk Southern construction to by-pass Danville, VA. The engineer and ten others killed, five serious to critical when #1102 pulled five mail cars over the side of a 5-mph bridge at 50 mph, on a line that nowadays would be considered unsafe at any speed, to quote Nader? Fatality waiting to happen, I'd say. :-(
I've always loved Flatt & Scruggs' and also Roy Acuff's recordings of this song!
good video👍👍👍👍
Hey how are you doing?
The Marlebone Street wreck in NYC comes to mind. I think Empire Boulevard is the new name of the street. What a disaster.
YES. Over one hundred dead.
Yes, it would!
Patti page
That was a shame I mean probably nice people who died but I will always think twice before I get on a train
Holey moley!!
Was 1102 scrapped after the accident?
I reached out to Lawrence and received this response: "Engine 1102 was refurbished and returned to service on the Richmond to Danville road and from Greensboro to Goldsboro for some time. It remained in service until 1929. It ended its days in a scrap yard in Princeton, Indiana about a year later."
I thaught it was scrapped right after the accident
@@zorantrivic4868 Lawrence is our local history expert, so he generally is spot on with his answers...
Crews with cutting torches and metal saws began work that Sunday night, and contractors with steam equipment and anchor chain righted the engine and worked it up the south embankment where it was re-railed and a temporary truck placed under the front. The metal from the cars was taken around to meet gondolas.
We're is or was the trestle located??
According to a local historian, and I quote "On Henry Street near Market Garden ball field there is a flat place going up the hill. That is the grade, which is lower than Riverside Drive. That grade covered acrpss a small stream (Stillhouse Branch) and the trestle curved over the brance near buildings of the Long Mill. There is nothing left except the branch. The railroad to Lynchburg was moved to its present location in 1915. The trestle was removed in the late 1930s." Thanks for asking!
S Brooklyn Wolen
Thanks. I've always wondered were it was at. Now to get back on Google maps and look
You are welcome. Thanks really to Danny Ricketts who loves to keep track of Danville history. I am just lucky enough to know him.
@@sbrooklynwolen5253 Thank you very much for the explanation,,,practice the tune of old97 on my banjo now for a couple of weeks. rgds frm Germany
@@animal16365 so i,m not the only one ;-)
i saw somewhere that it said that he reversed the engine to try slow up and it droped a link makeing it vault off the line like the tailshaft story. any info ppl????
The Baldwin would not go into reverse while the wheels were turning forward. He worked the throttle back and forth to catch the right cam position with a pulse of steam to drag the wheels, then worked the brakes and reverse lever succeeding after several tries to reverse the wheels dramatically slowing the runaway train.
There was a small piston on top the big piston called the "reverser" which started the wheels in reverse. They say that the linkage dropped within walking distance of the trestle, but the uneven power threw the engine into violent yaw and the cars into fishtailing.
Through the song Everything was made famous nowhere has it ever been said that the wives of those lost their lives were compensated by the railroad or anyone
Hi Scott. Reached out to Lawrence McFall (featured in this story). His response follows: Source of the following information: Aaron, Larry G. The Wreck of the Old 97. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2010. ISBN 978.1.59629.876.7. page 136.
“Southern Railway made financial settlements with the various families of those killed in the wreck. Among them, court records in Danville, Virginia, indicate that a jury awarded mail clerk John L. Thompson’s estate $8,000 on April 28, 1904, and on another day, the estate of Paul M. Argenbright was awarded $6,000. The jury…awarded Broady’s estate $4,500…”
Best wishes,
Lawrence
Why did the train have two numbers 97 and 1102
A train is made up with an engine and any number of cars. A train is given a number to distinguish it on timetables, etc. Southern Railway used even numbers for northbound trains and odd numbers for the southbound. A locomotive was given a number for inventory purposes. Hence, Engine 1102 pulled train 97 on the Danville Division (Monroe, Virginia to Spencer, North Carolina). The 640-mile distance from Washington to Atlanta required 4 different locomotives to pull Train 97. One engine in each of the four divisions.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes, Lawrence
Did his brakes fail? The song says they did
I guess there will always be some uncertainty, but the speed of the train on that curve was definitely a factor.
I see so 97 was the trains # not the loco.
Why they gonna crash like that? o_O
back then the air brake systems where still new and prone to failure so if a valve or as railroad crews call them anglecocks was turned off the brakes would not active as the reduction in air pressure couldn't be recognized its actually ingenious how Westinghouse designed the system ( ps there still in business going by wabco today)
Well done video!
Sad that the IDIOT engineer killed his passengers and fireman.
Was the engineer unfamilliar with the route?
If the track had been banked, would that have kept the train on the track?
Were speed signs placed well before the curve? Why only 5 mph over the bridge?
That seems much too slow.
Robert Gift ]
I want to point out that the trestle in the wreck was likely an old one probably built during the civil war (or before actually) and back then trains in the US even if they were express service trains usually could only go 25 or 30 Miles per hour this due to the condition of the rails at the time and was considered fast So I imagine 5 MPH was a good speed WHEN the bridge was built (this discounting the fact that the engines in height were quite a bit lower than those in 1900 and past it so center of gravity has the place there
The engineer was pressured to go faster than was safe in order to make up time. As you may recall, the train was about an hour late, and that would probably have penalties associated with it.
If the track had been straight and not curved the train would have run out and stopped.
It is most apparent you have little to no knowledge of the rail industry. All you managed to do was in most a condescending way insult every railroader past and present. I suggest that in the future you research your subject before offering YOUR opinion. In the case of railroad accidents they are investigated and reports are public information.
Did you work at C&P
This response from Lawrence: "All well here. Wishing you the same. I experienced difficulty trying to respond to Mr. McCune. I did indeed work for C&P Telephone and with his dad for 30 years. In fact, his dad, Wade, and I were high school friends. You may have Kenny contact me here if you like." That said, I will try to send you his contact email through a less public network :-)
Well, I couldn't get the message through email, so I will leave this up for a day or two, so that you can access the info. I hope you are able to connect. Here is the contact info flmacjr@msn.com
OLD 97
Hello how are you doing?