Railroad Accidents
The history of the railroad in Vermont is checkered with accidents. The early wood railroad trestles could not hold up to the stresses of the weighty locomotives. Imperfections in railroad ties were often hazardous. Head-on collisions were frequent, due to ineffective communications between trains and stations. And the rough Vermont climate was to blame for a number of icy tracks, washed out bridges, and blizzard-like conditions. These accidents were often documented by photographers.
The following is a list of many of the major accidents of the Central Vermont Railroad. In order to date an historic image that contains a train accident, it may be necessary to know the location of the image.
| February 14, 1861: A passenger train derailed at Middlesex |
| May 20, 1864: A train derailed near Bingham's crossing north of St. Albans |
| June 30, 1864: A passenger train and a work train collided near St. Albans |
| April 13, 1866: An express train plunged through a small bridge (location unknown) |
| December 6, 1866: A mail train derailed in White River Junction |
| December 11, 1867: A passenger train derailed into a gorge during the reconstruction of Harlow Bridge near Northfield |
| 1871: A trestle collapsed over Lake Champlain |
| May 23, 1883: A train crashed and derailed in East Granville |
| November 5, 1883: A large train crash occurred new North Enosburg |
| 1885: A runaway freight train crashed at the depot in Ludlow |
| 1880s: A train derailed at the Vernon Street ice house in Brattleboro |
| 1886: A bridge collapsed at "Three Bridges Crossing" two miles north of Brattleboro |
| February 5, 1887: A large train crash wrecked the Hartford Bridge four miles north of White River Junction |
| April 6, 1888: The engine "Nathan Rice" derailed near Rockingham |
| June 1888: A seven car train was struck by a forty car stock train in Bethel |
| January 24, 1889: A heavy freight train pulled by the engine "D.D. Ranlett" plunged off the end of the Hartford Bridge |
| May 4, 1889: A freight train broke in two at East Granville, derailing twenty-one cars |
| May 29, 1889: A freight train broke in two near Highgate Springs |
| 1891: Two passenger cars derailed at Sheldon |
| July 1902: A train wrecked on Slip Hill near Waterbury |
| April 3, 1903: A locomotive plowed into a mudslide at Elbow Bridge south of Northfield |
| 1904: A train derailed near the Lamoille River |
| 1904: Two trains collided in East Swanton |
| 1907: A train derailed north of Bethel |
| August 26, 1907: Engine 203 and its passenger cars derailed at Dodge's Bridge one mile south of Montpelier |
| May 14, 1911: A large wreck occurred when Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad car #21364 collided with a Central Vermont Railroad train. |
| Circa 1912: A train derailed on a small trestle at the north edge of Enosburg Falls |
| June 15, 1912: Engine 205 derailed on a small trestle near Wiley Street in Barre |
| Circa 1917: A train derailed in a North Underhill swamp |
| 1910s: A head on collision occurred in Barre |
| Winter 1910s: A train derailed in Bethel |
| 1910s: A runaway engine, 418, derailed over washed out tracks near Putney |
| 1917: A train took a nose-dive into the West River north of Brattleboro |
| June 5, 1918: A head-on collision occurred in the North Avenue tunnel in Burlington |
| August 19, 1919: A train derailed on the bank of the Winooski River in Jonesville |
| Circa 1919: Engine 10 derailed into the Connecticut River between White River Junction and Bellow's Falls |
| April 20, 1920: Rutland Engine 33 crashed through Rouses Point Bridge and was submerged under water; the engine was lifted out on August 22. |
| May 28, 1920: A streetcar and a railroad car collided at the Lake Street crossing in St. Albans |
| December 11, 1920: A train derailed in West Hartford |
| May 1, 1921: Train 496 derailed with five other train cars full of corn near St. Albans |
| January 20, 1922: Two trains collided at the north end of the White River Junction railyard |
| August 2, 1926: Two trains collided one mile north of the East Granville station |
| February 11, 1923: Train 210 derailed in Milton, and two engines collided in Italy Yard in St. Albans |
| August 2, 1923: Two trains collided at Webb's siding in East Granville; three weeks later, Trains 414 and 450 collided near Roxbury |
| October 21, 1923: Trains 211 and 455 collided head-on at the underpass of the main line in Bethel |
| March 11, 1924: A train wrecked north of North Duxbury and two miles south of Bolton |
| June 20, 1924: The "Montrealer" collided head-on with another train at the switch of the Sharon track |
| April 13, 1925: Six cars of Train 72 derailed almost two miles north of Essex Junction |
| May 11, 1932: Engine 707 wrecked south of the Jonesville station |
| December 1934: Train 490 derailed in Allen's Cut near Milton |
| May 3, 1936: Train 43 derailed on the switch of Cross Brother's Spur in Northfield |
| June 24, 1937: Train 21 and Engine 600 collided just north of St. Albans |
| March 23, 1939: Train 490 derailed at the north end of the Waterbury yard |
| April 12, 1949: Engine 602 derailed at Montpelier Junction |
| July 15, 1951: Engines 6217 and 603 collided in Swanton |
