Ballads might be of interest here. "The Wreck of the Old '97" is a good example. G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter wrote the song about the 1903 mail train derailment around Danville, VA. Vernon Dalhart also recorded it in 1924, and, of course, many other artists have recorded it since then.


"Scalded to Death by the Steam: Authentic Stories of Railroad Disasters and the Ballads That Were Written About Them," a book by Katie Letcher Lyle would be useful.


Gregg Andrews

________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Wolfgang Hochbruck <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 3, 2018 9:03:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fw: Train Wrecks in Fiction

....i'd have a pile of data on train wrecks in drama, some of them even
on stage. If that is of any help.

best,
Wolfgang

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck
Department of English /
Centre for Security and Society
Albert Ludwigs University
15 Rempart St.
D- 79098 Freiburg

Am 03.08.2018 um 08:52 schrieb Hal Bush:
> Here's an interesting grad student inquiry from C19 that I thought perhaps =
> some of you might like to respond to or know about ... -hb
>
>
> Dr. Hal Bush
>
> Dept. of English
>
> Saint Louis University
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 314-977-3616
>
> https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhalbush.com&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cga05%40TXSTATE.EDU%7Cb17a2a2fbe3744a0f39d08d5f94a2a66%7Cb19c134a14c94d4caf65c420f94c8cbb%7C0%7C0%7C636689019294650408&amp;sdata=eaDe83KoWUgueRxneMPNG17zeDivhcWbHE8NyRKMx9w%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> author website:  halbush.com
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists <L-C19-AMERICANIS=
> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Carolin Alice Hofmann <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, August 2, 2018 3:21 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Train Wrecks in Fiction
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I=92m writing about 19th century precursors to =91trauma=92 in my doctoral =
> project. For a chapter on journalistic and literary responses to =91railway=
>   spine,=92 a condition that marks a shift from physical to psychological ex=
> planations of being harmed by modern technology, I am looking for train wre=
> cks in literature. Specifically, I=92m trying to find representations of ra=
> ilroad accidents in the second half of the 19th century, that are ideally n=
> ot just minor plot events but have a greater significance, as they, for exa=
> mple, invite discussions of chance, risk, accident, lasting psychological d=
> amage, etc. I=92ve already found Howells, A Quality of Mercy, Twain, =93The=
>   Danger of Lying in Bed,=94 Newell, Smoked Glass, Chopin, =93Story of an Ho=
> ur,=94 and Holmes, A Moral Antipathy. Any suggestions would be super helpfu=
> l. Nonfictional texts are also interesting to me.
>
> Many thanks in advance.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Alice ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>)
>
> --
> Carolin Alice Hofmann
> PhD Candidate
> English Department
> University at Albany=97SUNY
>