Accident on the Camden and Amboy Rail Road

Period1855

MediumLithograph on paper

Dimensions10 × 14 in. (25.4 × 35.6 cm)

InscribedInscribed lower left, "Drawn on the spot immediately after the accident." Inscribed lower center, "ACCIDENT ON THE CAMDEN AND AMBOY RAIL ROAD, / near BURLINGTON, N. J. / AUG. 29TH 1855. / 21 PERSONS KILLED - 75 WOUNDED."

SignedSigned lower right, "T. Sinclairs lith. Phila."

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Mrs. James W. Wood, 1957

Object number2007.545

DescriptionA dynamic scene of a train wreck. Five cars are depicted, four of which have derailed. Only one car marked "U. S. MAIL" remains upright and on the track. One car in the foreground has fallen down an embankment. Three others in the right middle distance have collided with each other, creating a tangled mass of wreckage. The remains of the locomotive appear down the embankment in front of them. A large number of people are shown standing, laying on the ground, or assisting others, with luggage interspersed among them. A disemboweled horse lies on the embankment to the left, with a carriage on its side just behind it. Observers watch the scene from a hill beyond the tracks, and a house appears in the right distance.
Curatorial RemarksJohn Collins ( 1814 - 1902) was a native of Burlington and an accomplished artist. He had opened a lithography business in Philadelephia in 1836, but sold it two years later to Thomas Sinclair (1807 - 1881). Collins continued to work for Sinclair for a number of years. He is best known for producing in 1847 a book of fourteen town scenes entitled Views of the City of Burlington, New Jersey, which was lithographed by Sinclair from Collins's drawings. The artist was apparently in Burlington at the time of the train wreck, as the lithograph is inscribed "Drawn on the spot immediately after the accident." His original drawing, in graphite and wash, is now in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA. When the scene was transferred to a lithograph stone, the details of the train itself and the landscape were copied precisely. But liberties were taken in the depiction of people and baggage, especially in the foreground where the scene was made more dense and chaotic.NotesThe train wreck depicted in this lithograph took place near Burlington, Burlington County, on 29 August 1855. Twenty-one people died in the accident, and another 75 persons were injured. According to the Camden & Amboy Rail Road rules of the day for trains operating on a single track, when a train having the right of way was late at a scheduled meeting place, an opposing train might run to a meeting post. The first train to arrive there was given the right of way, the other being required to back up to a passing siding. The train in the lithograph was headed northbound. It got to the meeting post second, so was in the process of backing up when at a grade crossing it struck a carriage being driven by Dr. John F. D. Heineken of Columbus, Burlington County. Heineken, his wife, and three children escaped injury, even though their two horses were killed in the crash. The train, running in reverse at speed, derailed with catastrophic loss of life and injuries. Four cars and the engine were reduced to twisted wreckage. Only one car lettered "U. S. Mail" remained upright and on the track. The artist has captured fully the carnage, with dozens of people lying on the ground, leaning down to help others, or standing amid the scattered luggage. One of the dead horses, with its belly sliced open, can be seen on the embankment to the left. Curiously, a telegraph line on poles appears above the cars. However, it was not then in use for regulating the movement of trains. The Camden & Amboy Rail Road began allowing its train crews to telegraph orders for that purpose in a revised Book of Rules which went into effect in December 1855, some four months after this horrific wreck. For further information about the worst train accident in early New Jersey railroad history, see also accession number 1786.

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