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Train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, 1895. [1750x2100] (upload.wikimedia.org)

submitted ago by Gunner08

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[–]Vascius 16 points17 points ago

The recent film "Hugo" attempted to imitate this famous crash as seen in this picture - http://www.smarttinc.com/email/NL-1211/hugo-1.jpg

[–]iiRockpuppy 8 points9 points ago

They used this exact photo in the book too.

I always loved turning back to that page... as devastating as it was, I've always been strangely fascinated by trains and all the mechanics and what not, so this image would be just a handy little turn back and keep my mind fresh of whatever tragedies that may or may not come as it gave me an optimistic outlook.

[–]thatsNACHOcheese 15 points16 points ago

I can't imagine how they'd deal with a mess like this without modern machinery, it must've been a hell of a job just to move that thing. Did they just get like 50 horses together with a ton of rope and inch it along?

[–]asshair 7 points8 points ago

Nah they just got another train to pull it.

[–]vln 7 points8 points ago

This photo appeared, without any explanation, on a page by itself in a book I had as a kid. The book was about railways, not about crashes, so it certainly stood out.

[–]SW1 10 points11 points ago

TRAIN! You're drunk again!

[–]pauldoubleyou 2 points3 points ago

I had this as an Athena poster with the caption 'oh shit'

[–]909101 2 points3 points ago

This is one of the album covers for Mr Big. http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/mr__big/lean_into_it/

[–]char-o-latte 0 points1 point ago

That was exactly my first thought.

[–]ReverendJohnson 2 points3 points ago

How'd that get up there??

[–]baklazhan 0 points1 point ago

Terminal at the bottom of a long slope with trains coming in from above.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

Clearly it's an early prototype of the "flying train". It was popular for a while during the early 1900s, but ultimately went the way of the zeppelin as it became prohibitively difficult to design railway traffic management systems that took into account both flying and non-flying trains.

[–]Milhaud 1 point2 points ago

Just 13 days ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/s417x/train_wreck_at_montparnasse_station_paris_1895/

But since this one is doing much better, I think we should keep it. This picture deserves some visibility.

[–]newbi1kenobi 1 point2 points ago

This picture is hanging in our maintenance department for motivation

[–]freebleploof 2 points3 points ago

This picture is hanging in our mens room, also for motivation.

[–]ccenkner 1 point2 points ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Into_It

[–]A_WILD_ABRA_APPEARED 0 points1 point ago

Is this the station right next to the Seine? I was on a group trip and one of the other members was talking about Hugo on the boat tour so I pointed out the station to her. I wasn't entirely sure I was right, though.

[–]dopplerdog 1 point2 points ago

No, it's in the south, not anywhere near the Seine. You're probably thinking of Austerlitz (or maybe Lyon).

[–]A_WILD_ABRA_APPEARED 0 points1 point ago

This must be the one where we caught the train to Zurich. Is it an open air station?

[–]dopplerdog 0 points1 point ago

Trains to Zurich leave from Gare de l'Est, which IIRC has open air platforms. It's to the NE of Paris, however. IIRC, Austerlitz goes on to the S and then on to Barcelona, and Montparnasse goes SW and then on to Madrid. Parisians may be able to say if my memory is faulty.

[–]fshavlak 0 points1 point ago

My uncle gave me a nice print of this when I was a little kid -- currently framed on my wall. Also on my walls are a print of E. O. Goldbeck's -- an Air Force division in 1947 with more than 20,000 men in the photograph -- and a print of an 1895 photograph of the USS Texas.

[–]ijustreallyliketrees 0 points1 point ago

It's amazing how little deformation (bending/crumpling) there is in the locomotive.

[–]katchison02 0 points1 point ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoxF29RI2Bs&t=0m7s

[–]estrtshffl 0 points1 point ago

If I recall correctly, one person died in that crash. They were on the street below.

Don't quote me on that.

[–]Apollo7 0 points1 point ago

DUI.

[–]TheMadMule -1 points0 points ago

The first attempt at an inception "kick" through multiple levels.

[–]back_and_forth49 -1 points0 points ago

I feel that this is relevant.

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