Great Train Wreck of 1918

The Great Train Wreck of 1918 occurred on July 9, 1918, in Nashville, Tennessee. Two passenger trains, operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway , collided head-on, costing at least 101 lives and injuring an additional 171. It is considered the worst rail accident in United States history, though estimates of the death toll of this accident overlap with that of the Malbone Street Wreck in Brooklyn the same year.

The two trains involved were the No. 4, scheduled to depart Nashville for Memphis, Tennessee, at 7:00 a.m., and the No. 1 from Memphis, about a half-hour late for a scheduled arrival in Nashville at 7:10 a.m. At about 7:20 a.m., the two trains collided while traversing a section of single track line known as "Dutchman's Curve" west of downtown, in the present-day neighborhood of Belle Meade. The trains were each traveling at an estimated 50 to 60 mph . The impact derailed them both, and destroyed several wooden cars.

Wikipedia