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Events on May 8 in history

Versailles rail accident
1842May, 8

A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.

On 8 May 1842, a train crashed in the cutting between Meudon and Bellevue stations on the railway between Versailles and Paris, France. The train was travelling to Paris when it derailed after the leading locomotive broke an axle, and the carriages behind piled into it and caught fire. It was the first French railway accident and the deadliest in the world at the time, causing between 52 and 200 deaths, including that of explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. The accident led the French to abandon the practice of locking passengers in their carriages.

Metal fatigue was poorly understood at the time and the accident led to systematic research into the problem.

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Events on 1842

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