Montparnasse derailment

{{Infobox public transit accident

|name=Montparnasse derailment

|image=Train wreck at Montparnasse 1895.jpg

|image_size=

|image_alt=

|caption=The wreckage of the station, photographed by Studio Lévy

|image_map=

|image_map_alt=

|image_map_caption=

|pushpin_map=

|alternative_map=

|pushpin_map_alt=

|pushpin_map_caption=

|mapframe=

|qid=

|mapframe_zoom=

|coordinates=

|date={{start date and age|df=yes|1895|10|22}}

|time=16:00

|location=Paris Montparnasse

|location_dir=

|location_city=

|location_dist_km=

|location_dist_mi=

|country=France

|line=

|operator=Chemins de fer de l'Ouest

|owner=

|service=

|type= Overrun

|cause= Excess speed and braking failure

|bus=

|trains=1

|vehicles=

|passengers=131

|crew=

|pedestrians=6

|deaths=1

|injuries=5

|damage=

|property=

|route_map=

|route_map_state=

|route_map_name=

}}

The Montparnasse derailment occurred at 16:00 on 22 October 1895 when the Granville–Paris Express overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus. With the train several minutes late and the driver trying to make up for lost time, the train approached the station too fast and the driver's application of the railway air brake was ineffective.

After running through the buffer stop, the train crossed the station concourse and crashed through the station wall. The locomotive fell onto the Place de Rennes below, where it stood on its nose. Although the passengers survived, a woman in the street below was killed by falling masonry.

Derailment

On 22 October 1895, the Granville to Paris express, operated by Chemins de fer de l'Ouest, was made up of steam locomotive No. 721 (a type 2-4-0, French notation 120) hauling three luggage vans, a post van, and six passenger coaches.{{sfn|Richou|1895|pp=369–370}} The train had left Granville on time at 08:45, but was several minutes late as it approached its Montparnasse terminus with 131 passengers on board. In an effort to make up lost time,{{sfn|Richou|1895|pp=369–370}} the train approached the station faster than usual, at a speed of {{convert|40|–|60|kph|abbr=on}}, and when the driver attempted to apply the Westinghouse air brake, it was faulty or ineffective.{{sfn|Richou|1895|pp=369–370}} The locomotive brakes alone were insufficient to stop the train, the momentum carried it into the buffers, and the locomotive crossed the almost {{convert|30|m|adj=on}} wide station concourse, crashing through a {{convert|60|cm|adj=on}} thick wall, before falling onto the Place de Rennes {{convert|10|m}} below, where it stood on its nose.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

A woman in the street below, Marie-Augustine Aguillard, was killed by falling masonry. She had been standing in for her husband, a newspaper vendor, while he went to collect the evening newspapers.{{cite magazine|url=http://failuremag.com/article/lets-pause-for-a-station-break|first=Jason|last=Zasky|title=Let's Pause For a Station Break: The story behind the world's most famous train wreck photo|magazine=Failure Magazine|date=4 Jan 2003|access-date= 22 October 2018|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180812170646/http://failuremag.com/article/lets-pause-for-a-station-break|archive-date=12 August 2018}} Two passengers, a fireman, two guards, and a passerby in the street sustained injuries.{{cite web |url=http://danger-ahead.railfan.net/accidents/paris_1895.html |title=Paris 1895 |publisher=danger-ahead.railfan.net |access-date=24 October 2012}}

Aftermath

The locomotive driver was sentenced to two months in prison and fined 50 francs for approaching the station too fast. One of the guards was fined 25 francs as he had been preoccupied with paperwork and failed to apply the handbrake.

The railway company settled with the family of the deceased woman, and arranged for the education of her two young children, as well as proposing future employment for them.

The passenger carriages were undamaged and were easily removed. It took 48 hours before the legal process and investigation allowed the railway to start removing the locomotive and tender. An attempt was made to move the locomotive with 14 horses, but this failed. A 250 tonne winch, with 10 men, first lowered the locomotive to the ground and then lifted the tender back into the station. When the locomotive reached the railway workshops it was found to have suffered little damage.{{sfn|Richou|1895|p=370}}

Legacy

File:Mundo a vapor - Canela.jpg]]

File:Mr. Big - Lean Into It.jpg album Lean into It]]

The wreckage remained outside the station for several days and a number of photographs were taken, such as those attributed to Studio Lévy and Sons,{{cite web|url=http://people.csail.mit.edu/sparis/siggraph06_gallery/memorial/ |title=Memorial |publisher=People.csail.mit.edu |access-date=23 October 2012}} L. Mercier,{{cite web|url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/photography/commentaire_id/accident-at-the-gare-de-louest-10773.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=847&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=844&cHash=e7a3cd5e1d|website=Musee-orsay.fr|title=Accident at the Gare de l'Ouest|access-date=23 October 2012}} and Henri Roger-Viollet.{{cite web|title=L'accident a la Gare Montparnasse |date=19 July 2009 |publisher=Iconicphotos.wordpress.com |url=http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/laccident-a-la-gare-montparnasse/|access-date=23 October 2012}}

The Lévy and Sons photograph has become one of the most famous in transportation history.

Popular culture

The Lévy and Sons photograph is now in the public domain and was used as the cover page in the book An Introduction to Error Analysis by John Taylor.{{cite book|author=John Robert Taylor|title=An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements|year=1997|publisher=University Science Books|isbn=9780935702750}} It is also on the cover of On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down by James Fell.{{Cite book |last=Fell |first=James |title=On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down |date=2021-04-17 |publisher=BFW Publishing |isbn=9781777574215 }} The photograph is featured on the album covers for Lean into It by American rock band Mr. Big[https://www.allmusic.com/album/lean-into-it-mw0000262706 Mr. Big: Lean Into It], AllMusic, accessed 23 October 2018 and Scrabbling at the Lock by Dutch rock band The Ex with Tom Cora, both first released in 1991,[https://allmusic.com/album/scrabbling-at-the-lock-mw0000620482 Scrabbling at the Lock], AllMusic, accessed 22 October 2018 and the 2019 album Warranty Void If Removed by French recording artist Dial-up Jeremy.[https://www.discogs.com/release/13135528-Dial-up-Jeremy-Warranty-Void-If-Removed Warranty Void If Removed] Discogs.com, accessed 9 February 2022

The incident is featured during a dream sequence in the 2007 novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret and its 2011 film adaptation, Hugo.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} It is depicted in the comic book series The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec,{{cite web|title=Train|url=http://blancsecadele.free.fr/montparnasse.html|work=Tardi – Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec|access-date=1 December 2011}} in the 1978 fourth album Momies en folie.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/tardi.htm|title=Jacques Tardi|publisher=Lambiek.net|access-date=22 October 2020}}

The incident was the basis for the 2025 novel The Paris Express: A Novel by Emma Donoghue.{{cite news |last1=Tay |first1=Mile Yan |title=Book review: Emma Donoghue’s taut period thriller The Paris Express resonates with the present |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/book-review-emma-donoghues-taut-period-thriller-the-paris-express-resonates-with-the-present |access-date=25 March 2025 |publisher=Straits Times |date=22 March 2025}}

A train crash with a similar chain of events occurs in the 1998 (season five) episode of Thomas & Friends called "A Better View for Gordon", in which Gordon the Big Engine crashed through a new station due to faulty brakes.{{Cite AV media |title=Thomas & Friends™: A Better View for Gordon |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQAZ6UBX5s |date=2021-02-11 |type=YouTube video |time=3:03-3:32 |access-date=2025-03-24}}

References

Sources

{{cite magazine|last=Richou|first=G.|date=1895-11-09|df=dmy-all|title=L'Accident de la Gare Montparnasse|url=http://cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/fpage.cgi?4KY28.45/373/100/556/5/436|language=French|magazine=La Nature|issue=1171|access-date=2019-01-10}}