The tricky curve where four passengers died in a Metro-North derailment Sunday has a deadly history dating back more than 130 years.
On Jan. 13, 1882, the city-bound Atlantic Express was running 35 minutes late as it sped out of Albany.
The train had nearly made up all the lost time when it reached the Spuyten Duyvil station, according to the Catskill Archive, a Web site chronicling history from New York's Mid-Hudson region.
The Express, carrying 13 cars and many state legislators trying to get to New York that evening, got about a third of a mile past the station when one of the air brakes gave out.
Operators brought the train to a stop about two hundred yards from the notorious curve, one of the sharpest on the line.
But the darkness, and a missed signal, kept operators on an approaching train from seeing the Atlantic Express stuck on the track.
The Tarrytown Special barreled into the stalled train, compressing its two rear cars and igniting a fire that killed a dozen passengers.
Among the fatalities were burgeoning railroad tycoon and state Sen. Webster Wagner. He was "burned to a crisp in one of his own luxurious cars," one headline read.
Volunteers tried to put out the fire with mounds of snow.
On July 18 of this year, a freight train hauling garbage derailed near the same spot.
"It's a big curve," said Marjorie Anderson, an MTA spokeswoman. "Just like an automobile would slow down for a curve, the train would slow down for it."
The section of track before the curve has a 70 mph speed limit.
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