Versailles railway accident

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Versailles train accident
Contemporary representation of the accident by A. Provost

The Versailles rail accident of May 8, 1842 near Meudon was one of the worst rail disasters of the 19th century. After an axle break on the leader locomotive of a passenger train, the second locomotive and the following passenger cars pushed themselves over the broken boiler and caught fire. At least 50 people died.

Starting position

The railway line from Paris to Versailles was opened in 1840 as the first section of the Paris – Brest railway line of the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris, Meudon, Sèvres et Versailles .

In honor of King Louis-Philippe , a public festival was held on May 8, 1842 in the garden of the Palace of Versailles . Numerous visitors, also from Paris , came to Versailles . In anticipation of the return traffic, the railway company had mobilized all its capacities: The train , which at five-thirty the station Versailles Rive Gauche ( Versailles - Left Bank ) should depart, was from 17 cars formed, of which three cars the first class , the other the second and third grade led. Two cars from the latter were open. All carriages were compartment wagons with no connection between the individual compartments and - this was standard at the time - made largely of wood. In total, the train was around 120 meters long and carried around 770 passengers and personnel. Since the railway administrations mistrusted the way passengers handled the new technology, the doors of all cars were locked so that no one could "get out" or fall out during the journey.

Due to its length, the train ran with a leader . A small British A 1 locomotive from Matthieu-Murray drove at the Zugspitze, followed by the larger l'Éclair locomotive. The train reached a speed of about 40 km / h at Meudon.

the accident

Immediately after passing the street Pavé des Gardes , which - at that time still before Meudon (it is now within the city) - crosses the railway line, the leading locomotive broke its axle , derailed and slipped into a ditch. The tender pushed open, as did the following second locomotive, which overturned. The three following passenger cars then pushed themselves over the two locomotives, and two more pushed into one another. The boiler of the locomotive exploded and ignited both the distributed coke from the tenders of the two locomotives and the wagons pushed over and into them. The fire spread quickly due to the wooden construction of the wagons. Because of the locked car doors, many travelers were unable to free themselves and were burned.

consequences

Immediate consequences

At least 50 people died. The exact number of deaths could never be determined, as it was difficult to assign the torn and charred body parts due to the great heat. Many victims were burned beyond recognition. Over 100 other travelers were injured. Other sources describe the accident as significantly more severe, with up to over 200 dead.

Admiral Dumont d'Urville

The assignment of the corpse of Admiral Jules Dumont d'Urville , a well-known explorer, was only possible through a few details of clothing and a comparison with a skull impression that a doctor once made of him out of an interest in phrenology . This identification is considered to be one of the first by methods of modern forensic medicine .

A chapel was built at the accident site to commemorate the dead .

Technical inspection

The technical investigation of the accident was carried out by William John Macquorn Rankine , who discovered hairline cracks in the broken axis that ran through it as a whole, a defect known today as fatigue fracture , a form of material fatigue . Due to the visual impression of the break, the explanation at that time was "Recrystallization processes in the metal". Ultimately, it took several years for the results of the research to be fully recognized by Rankine.

Broken axles were not uncommon in the first 50 years of rail operations. It was not until August Wöhler that reliable test methods were developed in the 1870s with which material fatigue could be identified.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Smith: Fatigue ; Louis Armand: Histoire des chemins de fer en France . 1963, p. 42.
  2. ^ Seguin: Du pont de Tournon.
  3. ↑ Seguin: Du pont de Tournon ; Smith: Fatigue .
  4. ^ Pierre Mercier: L'opinion publique après le déraillement de Meudon en 1842 . In: Fédération des sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Paris et Ile-de-France (eds.): Paris et Ile-de-France - Mémoires vol. 44 (1993).
  5. ^ Smith: Fatigue .

Coordinates: 48 ° 49 ′ 6.5 ″  N , 2 ° 13 ′ 51.6 ″  E