15 Historical Photos You Won't Believe Are Real

1. Derailed - Train Flies Off The Track And Through A Building At Montparnasse Terminus In France

Train Crash
Wikipedia/Levy&Fils

This photo depicts the infamous Montparnasse derailment of October 1895 when the Granville-Paris Express train overran the buffer stop at the terminus and smashed through the wall, falling on to the Place de Rennes below.

The train became lodged between the top of the Gare Montparnasse terminus and the street below for several days, leading many people to take photographs of the scene.

Despite there being 131 passengers on board, amazingly there was only one death - a woman named Marie-Augustine Aguilard who had been standing getting a newspaper from a vendor on the street - and six injuries.

Although a horrendous accident, it certainly made for a brilliant photograph...

 
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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.