"The new Narrow Passage bridge.
"The last span of the new bridge at Narrow Passage on the Southern
Railway, near Edinburg, was placed in position on Sunday by the workmen of
the American Bridge Company, but the bridge will not be turned over to
the company before the latter part of December. It is the longest
bridge on the road between Washington and Harrisonburg, and when completed
will cost the company about $45,000. At the highest point it is 105 feet
to the ground from the rails. The new bridge is massive and compact, and
will last many years. It will be recalled that on the night of
March 6, 1876, that a terible railroad accident occurred at Narrow
passage bridge. The freight train going east, heavily laden with rock
and mixed freight, ran onto the bridge and as the engine reached the center
of the bridge which was about 300 ft. wide and 114 high, the trestle
work gave way and entire train of cars, was precipitated in amass of ruins.
There were eighteen men aboard, eleven of whom were killed and the remaining
seven wounded."
-- paper of November 12, 1909 as reprinted in The Shenandoah
Valley-Herald's "YesterYears" section Fri, 13 Nov 2009 pA4. [All spelling, capitalization,
punctuation, grammar, etc. copied verbatim from 2009 version.]
Accident Details
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