The 1918 Avon Train Wreck

Avon, Connecticut:

One of the worst derailments in Avon’s history occurred on August 2, 1918. At about 3:30 PM a northbound freight train wrecked on a twenty-five foot embankment between the Avon Railroad Station and the West Avon Road viaduct. The cause of the wreck was thought to be defective brakes. The train uncoupled and eight cars were derailed.

Six of these train cars fell upon a house owned by the Ensign-Bickford Company and occupied by Sezarino Oliver, an employee, and completely demolished it. No one was in the house at the time. The Oliver family posed for photos while workers from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad cleaned up the wreck. Freight and passenger rail went through the Town of Avon from 1850 until 1991.