Talk:Wreck of the Old 97

Untitled
This article is inaccurate as to the place of the wreck. The Article on Danville VA properly identifies the location which was on the trestle beginning to cross the ravine before the Dan River. I have seen the Marker placed there on US Route 58 BY THE STATE OF VIRGINIA. The railroad now crosses the Dan about 1/2 mile east of the original location. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BillFloyd (talk • contribs) 04:21, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Below is a direct quote from the Danville, Article: One of the most famous wrecks in American rail history occurred in Danville. On September 27, 1903, “Old 97,” the Southern Railway’s crack express mail train, was running behind schedule. Its engineer “gave her full throttle,” but the speed of the train caused it to jump the tracks on a high trestle overlooking the valley of the Dan. The engine and five cars plunged into the ravine below, killing nine and injuring seven, but immortalizing the locomotive and its engineer, Joseph A. ("Steve") Broadey, in a now well-known song. A marker is located on U.S. 58 between Locust Lane and North Main Street at the train crash site. A mural of the Wreck of the Old 97 is painted on a downtown Danville building in memory of the historic wreck. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BillFloyd (talk • contribs) 21:33, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

Grayson and Whitter
G.B. Grayson never recorded this song (the Blue Ridge Institute source is wrong); Henry Whitter made a record of the song before he teamed with Grayson and before the Dalhart recording. Grayson & Whitter as a team did not record together until 1927. Not sure where this information can be found online but in books there is Long Steel Rail by Norm Cohen, which has an exhaustive history of the story behind the song (and the lawsuit) and Country Music Records by Tony Russell which has the discographical information. Banjochris (talk) 17:09, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

How many died and when?
This article claims' Eleven of them died and seven were injured.' It also claims 'Nine people were killed, including the locomotive crew and a number of clerks in the mail car coupled between the tender and the rest of the train.' Did nine die in the crash and two later of their injuries or is this a mistake? I don't have any references to this event.Waugh Bacon (talk) 12:48, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Also claims that there were three survivors at another point. Another oddity is that the article connects the lucrative contract to deliver mail to the name of the train - Old 97 - but doesn't explain what the connection is.  I sure can't see any.  GoldenRing (talk) 11:56, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I believe there is another verse to the song it goes; On a cold, cold day in the month of September when the snow was falling low, 97 rolled out from Washington station like an arrow shot from a bow, Is this correctBrucemorr (talk) 10:06, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Will people please stop using an incorrect word.
People keep changing the correct word "careered" to the incorrect word "careened" and claiming they are correcting a spelling. They are not. Careen means to turn a boat onto its side so that its bottom can be cleaned, this is not what happened to the Old 97. Career means to follow a path, often at speed and veering from side to side, exactly what the Old 97 did.

Please get it right.MidlandLinda (talk) 17:05, 20 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Here is what Merriam-Webster has to say:  Rhadow (talk) 11:42, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

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Copyright status of the lyrics
According to this article Victor was recognized as the copyright owner of this song by the Supreme Court. This company was then sold to RCA, which still exists. So don't they own the lyrics to the song and the copyrights only expire until 70 years after RCA ceases to exist (or any company that might acquire them in the future)? Someone Not Awful (talk) 22:26, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

97
Fine article, and a fine start.

But things are incomplete:

1. At the risk of being obvious, the title is "Wreck of the Old 97", but the article proceeds never tell us what "97" means.

2. The article names the locomotive number but not the train number. I presume a reader who cares to know one would want to know the other. Either state both, or omit both.

For that matter, might the train number be 97? If yes, Q.E.D. If no and yet it is still relevant to the event in question, how? Or if it's not relevant to the event, then why is it in the song, and what does it mean there?

3. You know my next question. What does "38" mean? And how is it relevant?

4. What does the nonsensical phrase "This is not 38 but Old 97" mean? Explain why a numerical entity changes identity into another.

5. Why Old 97? To paraphrase Darth Vader&mdash;whom I once saw on TV shortly after the first Star Wars movie, dangling Wolfman Jack off the ground by the neck after the Wolfman had dropped the name of Alice Cooper, asking him threateningly, "What is an Alice Cooper?"&mdash;what is an "Old 97"? What is the distinction between an "Old 97" and a "97"?

Jimlue (talk) 07:07, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * According to Fast Mail (Southern Railway), this was indeed train #97. I added a note about it to the first sentence. DMacks (talk) 15:54, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * "38" was the Crescent (train) that operated on the same rail-line. Either train 97 was running so late that it could be mistaken for the next one on the schedule, or train 38 did not have 97's reputation for on-time performance. DMacks (talk) 16:25, 23 October 2020 (UTC)