On August 12, 1853, two Providence and Worcester Railroad passenger trains collided head-on in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. The accident resulted in 14 fatalities and a further 17 serious injuries, an unknown number of passengers suffered less severe injuries.

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Valley Falls train collision
A daguerreotype of the collision taken shortly after it occurred
Location of the collision within Rhode Island
Details
Date	August 12, 1853 Approximately 8:00 am
Location	Valley Falls, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41.894627°N 71.385763°W / 41.894627; -71.385763
Country	United States
Operator	Providence and Worcester Railroad
Incident type	Collision
Cause	Human error
Statistics
Trains	2
Deaths	14
Injured	17
List of rail accidents (before 1880)

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The investigation into the accident found the conductor of the southbound train responsible, as he allowed his train to proceed south with only four minutes of time available rather than the five mandated by the timetable to clear a section of single track between Valley Falls and Pawtucket before a northbound train was due. The use of timetables and personal watches to avoid accidents, instead of a proper railroad signaling system, was also found to be unsafe. Following the collision, the Providence and Worcester Railroad installed double track on its mainline to prevent another collision from occurring. The collision is believed to be the first to ever be photographed.

The Providence and Worcester Railroad main line included a section of single track between the station in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, and the junction with the Boston and Providence Railroad to the south in nearby Pawtucket. Train movements were scheduled according to a timetable to avoid collisions, and the conductor of each train was responsible for ensuring the train kept to its schedule and also keeping their watch accurate to the railroad's established time.^[1][2]

Two trains were scheduled to pass by Valley Falls station on the morning of August 12, 1853. Departing from Uxbridge, Massachusetts, at 6:30 am was a train of approximately 475 vacationers heading for Providence and ultimately the beaches of Narragansett Bay. Meanwhile, a regular passenger train with two cars and approximately 50 passengers departing Providence at 7:20 am was scheduled to stop at Valley Falls on its way to Worcester.^[1][3] The southbound train was several minutes behind schedule, and therefore rushing to cover the distance between Valley Falls and Pawtucket before the northbound train arrived. The engineer of the northbound train, who was expecting the southbound train, waited at Pawtucket for five minutes per the timetable plus an additional minute, and then proceeded onto the single track section at a slow speed. At approximately 8:00 am, just after rounding a curve, the northbound train was struck by the excursion, which was travelling at an estimated 40 miles per hour (64 km/h).^[3][4] The southbound train was severely damaged, with the locomotive and the first passenger car destroyed; the third car telescoped into the second car. Damage was also heavy on the northbound train, but its passengers fared far better than those in the excursion.^[3][5]

Fourteen people were killed and seventeen severely injured in the collision; numerous others had less severe injuries. A man identified as L. Wright from Pawtucket happened upon the accident and captured a daguerreotype minutes after it occurred. Wright is believed to have taken the first ever photograph of a train wreck. His daguerreotype was the basis of a woodcut illustration published in The Illustrated News of New York, a short lived newspaper owned by P. T. Barnum, on August 27, 1853.^[6][7]

A Boston and Providence Railroad passenger train leaving Providence en route to Boston observed the wreck and stopped to assist the victims. A doctor which happened to be on board began helping those injured, most of which were transported to the Pawtucket station for treatment.^[5] The next regularly scheduled train stopping at Valley Falls happened upon the wreck and began working to clear it.^[5]