St. Johnsbury Vermont Train Wreck 1907 Killed Injured - RPPC Photo Postcard

USD 90.00

Condition: Not specified

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View St. Johnsbury Vermont Train Wreck 1907 Killed Injured - RPPC Photo Postcard with current marketplace pricing, condition, product images and item details. The April 10, Johnsbury, Vermont, was one of the more dramatic rail accidents in that region during the early twentieth century, a period when Vermont's rail corridors were vital arteries for passengers and freight. A 5.5x3.5" vintage RPPC photo postcard (NOT a modern reprint) from the estate of a vintage postcard collector. This was part of a huge collection of antique postcards. * We always automatically combine orders for shipping, so add as many postcards as you’d like to your order! Photo Overview A striking and historically significant real photo postcard documenting the aftermath of a deadly express train wreck near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, on April 10, 1907. The image shows a passenger rail car that has tumbled approximately 40 feet down a snowy embankment from the rails into what appears to be a riverbank below, with the car lying on its side amid barren winter trees. A crowd of onlookers and rescue workers can be seen gathered along the wreckage. The handwritten annotations on the front of the card note that one man was killed in the car shown, that this was the express train wrecked April 10th about 2 miles above the town, and that approximately 15 people were injured. The postcard was mailed from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, on April 19, 1907 - just nine days after the disaster - and was addressed to Mrs. G. J. Harvey of Glenside, Pennsylvania. The postmark and 1-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp are clear and intact. The personal handwritten message signed 'J.N.' makes this an eyewitness contemporary document of a real tragedy. Historical Notes The April 10, Johnsbury, Vermont, was one of the more dramatic rail accidents in that region during the early twentieth century, a period when Vermont's rail corridors were vital arteries for passengers and freight. St. Johnsbury was a major railroad hub, served by lines including the Boston and Maine and the Maine Central railroads, making it an important junction in northern New England. A derailment of an express train carrying passengers, resulting in a fatality and roughly 15 injuries, would have been major local news. RPPC disaster postcards produced and mailed within days of catastrophic events are among the most collectible and historically valuable photographic ephemera from the early 1900s, as they served the same role that news photographs serve today - rushing visual evidence of a dramatic event to friends and family. This card, mailed just nine days after the wreck, is a vivid example of that tradition. The St. Johnsbury rail corridor continued to be heavily used throughout the twentieth century, though rail traffic declined significantly in the latter half of the century as highways supplanted rail travel in northern Vermont. Print analysis This is a Type 1 original Real Photo Postcard (RPPC). The image is a direct photographic print on postcard stock, not a halftone or collotype reproduction. The postmarks confirm it was mailed in April 1907, within days of the event depicted on April 10, 1907. This is a genuine period photograph produced and sent within days of the disaster it documents, making it a first-generation photographic record. The surface shows the continuous-tone silver gelatin characteristics of an RPPC rather than any dot-pattern of a printed reproduction. Condition All postcards we sell are in fair to excellent vintage condition. Category: Collectibles › Postcards & Supplies › Postcards › Topographical Postcards.