Gare Montparnasse - 1895 Derailment

1895 Derailment

The Gare Montparnasse became famous for the derailment on 22 October 1895 of the Granville–Paris Express, which overran the buffer stop. The engine careered across almost 30 metres (100 ft) of the station concourse, crashed through a 60-centimetre (2 ft) thick wall, shot across a terrace and smashed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes 10 metres (33 ft) below, where it stood on its nose. Two of the 131 passengers sustained injuries, along with the fireman and two conductors. The only fatality was a woman on the street below who was killed by falling masonry. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine driver, who was trying to make up lost time. A conductor was given a 25-franc fine and the engine driver a 50-franc fine.

In the end of the film Silver Streak the train crashes into the station in a similar way. The train crash and the picture featured in the 2007 children's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and in its film adaptation, Hugo, where it was in one of Hugo's nightmares. The picture of the accident is used as the cover page in the book An Introduction to Error Analysis by John Taylor. The story of the 1895 accident was referenced in the television series Thomas and Friends in "A Better View For Gordon". The event is depicted in the comic book The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. The accident was also featured on the front cover of American hard rock band Mr. Big's 1991 album, Lean into It.

Replicas of the train crash are recreated outside the Mundo a Vapor ("Steam World") museum chain buildings in Brazil, in the southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Canela.