Virginia Room Digital Collection

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The Virginia Room Digital Collection includes photographs, oral histories, books, pamphlets and finding aids to items in the Virginia Room. Continue to check back for new additions.

Browse Items (12 total)

MP 58.0 Ole 97.jpg
The aftermath of the wreck of the "Ole 97". Due to excessive speed in an attempt to maintain schedule, the train derailed at the Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia where the train careened off the side of the bridge, killing eleven personnel…

HNWR154.jpg
Wreck at Powhatan, West Virginia. Notice the double-tracking in the image. Unfortunately, the development of adequate rail safety technology was years from completion, making railroading a dangerous profession.

HNWR101.jpg
Engines No. 14 and No. 37 collided at Rural Retreat. Note the collapsed front half of the first baggage coach. While engines could often withstand collisions, the wood-constructed baggage and passenger coaches were extremely vulnerable.

HNWR100.jpg
A closer view of the Thaxton wreck shows the debris pile. Engineer Pat Donovan's body was so badly mangled he was only identified by his clothing. The entire woodwork of the train was burned due to exploding gas lights in the coaches. Seven cars…

HNWR099.jpg
This head-on collision occurred at Rippon, Virginia. Engine No. 481 is at left.

HNWR009.jpg
On July 2, 1889, a night storm swelled Wolf Creek near Thaxton, Virginia, which rose out of its banks just as passenger train No. 2 was crossing. The situation became N&W's first major disaster. There was only one survivor, trainmaster James…

RREC20 Number 44.jpg
Another view of Brill car Number 44 after a collision with a Virginian Railway locomotive under the Walnut Avenue Bridge.

RREC19 Number 44.jpg
Brill car Number 44 after a collision with a Virginian Railway locomotive under the Walnut Avenue bridge.

FE094 Old 97.jpg
The wreck of the "Old 97" was an American rail disaster involving the Southern Railway mail train, officially known as the Fast Mail, while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, on September 27, 1903. Due to excessive speed in…

FE089 Old 97.jpg
The wreck of the "Old 97" was an American rail disaster involving the Southern Railway mail train, officially known as the Fast Mail, while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, on September 27, 1903. Due to excessive speed in…

FE086 Old 97.jpg
The wreck of the "Old 97" was an American rail disaster involving the Southern Railway mail train, officially known as the Fast Mail, while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, on September 27, 1903. Due to excessive speed in…

Davis 61.71 Thaxton Train Wreck.jpg
Train wreck on the Norfolk and Western railroad. Twenty one wounded and the number of killed unknown, as the records were destroyed. Man in foreground unidentified
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