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Article: Answer Man Tells the Tale Of an Eerie Rail Crash 100 Years Ago
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 28, 2009
- Author:
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What can you tell us about the Terra Cotta train wreck over 100
years ago, which strangely occurred not far from Monday's Metro
accident?
-- Bill Peters, Dunkirk
Today we refer to the area just north of Catholic University as
"Fort Totten," but at the turn of the 20th century it was called
"Terra Cotta," for the vast deposits of red clay in the ground
there. The clay was discovered when the B&O Railroad put the
Metropolitan Branch through, linking western Maryland with
Washington. A clay pipe-manufacturing industry arose, centered
around the Thomas Sommerville Co.
On the evening of Sunday, Dec. 30, 1906, the No. 66, a passenger
train full to capacity, was returning to Washington from ...