From the Connecticut Post:
Rail bridge site: One of deadliest rail accidents in U.S.
Jim Shay
May 30, 2014
Updated: May 30, 2014 12:09 a.m.
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"It was one of the deadliest train wrecks in U.S. history and it happened at the same location where a Norwalk railroad bridge became stuck Thursday morning.
The deadly accident happened more than 150 years ago on Friday, May 6, 1853, when a train plunged off an open drawbridge into the Norwalk River.
Around 10:15 a.m. that day, a New York & New Haven Railroad express train was carrying 200 passengers from New York to Boston when it flew into the river.
The drawbridge was open to allow the Pacific, a passing steamship, to sail beneath it.
Investigators found that the engineer, Edward Tucker, ignored the stop signal, a red ball mounted on a tall pole. Tucker said he tried to stop the speeding train when he saw the open bridge, but it was too late.
The engine flew across the 60-foot gap, striking the opposite abutment about eight feet below the level of the track and sinking into 12 feet of water.
The locomotive and the first two passenger cars sunk below the murky water, while the third broke in two, half of it hanging in the river.
With 46 people killed, it was at the time, the deadliest railroad accident in U.S. history."
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A new bridge is now in its place. The current swing bridge was built in 1896. More information can be found here: (
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Photos in the gallery are of the current bridge, which is in the same location as the previous one. Historic picture in the gallery is from the Connecticut Post.