Lost at Thaxton: The Dramatic True Story of Virginia's Forgotten Train Wreck

"I have stood on the battlefield, and heard shot and shell rattling around me, and seen my comrades falling like leaves in autumn, but I have never seen anything that curdled my blood with horror or moved me to deeper depths of compassion than the scenes of that dreadful night" — Major Henry N. Martin, Wreck Survivor

A storm like no one had ever seen caused tiny Wolf Creek in Thaxton, Virginia, to rage in the darkness of night. An earthen fill that carried the railroad over the creek could not withstand the power of the rising water, and Norfolk & Western passenger train Number Two plummeted into a hole in the earth.

There in the valley beneath the shadow of the towering Peaks of Otter, passengers and crew scrambled from the wreckage and water in a life-or-death struggle. The best and worst of humanity were on display in the small hours of the night, as some worked heroically to rescue those trapped in the debris while others stood by concerned only for themselves. A terrible fire ensued, and those who remained trapped were consumed by the flames. The bloodied and battered survivors suffered through four more hours of isolation and torture in the rain alongside the burning wreckage before help would finally arrive.

Written and extensively researched by the great-great grandson of the railroad section master at Thaxton, Lost at Thaxton tells the forgotten true story of one of the worst railroad accidents in the history of Virginia and the people who lived and died that night.