# Origin of this photo of a defenestrated locomotive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996 "2009-08-01T20:00:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/1 "2009-08-01T20:00:55Z")
A couple years ago on some random place on the intertubes I found [this picture](http://www.friedo.com/train.jpg) of a train which has crashed out the second-story window of a building of some sort. Anybody know what the story behind it is? The name on the building appears to say: CHEMINS DE FER DE L’OUEST The locomotive has number 721 on the front and a manufacturer logo (?) that looks like it says QUEST. (Or maybe it says OUEST like the building.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/2 "2009-08-01T20:08:14Z")
From a 1895 train derailemnt in Paris. Here’s the [wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_Montparnasse). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/3 "2009-08-01T20:11:44Z")
Google is your friend. [This accident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemins_de_Fer_de_l%27Ouest) happened on 22 October, 1895, at the Montparnasse Station in Paris. There was one fatality . . . a “news agent” who was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/4 "2009-08-01T20:16:22Z")
The Gare Montparnasse became famous for a derailment on 22 October 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 30 metres (98 ft) of the station concourse, crashed through a 60-centimetre (24 in) thick wall, shot across a terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes 10 metres (33 ft) below, where it stood on its nose. All on board the train survived, five sustaining injuries: two passengers, the fireman and two crewmembers; however, one woman on the street below was killed by falling masonry.[5] The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine drivers who were trying to make up for lost time.[6] The conductor incurred a 25 franc penalty and the engine driver a 50 franc penalty; he was also sent to prison for two months. The picture of the locomotive standing on its nose appears on the cover of the album Lean into It from the hard rock band Mr. Big. The story of the train crash and the picture feature in the 2007 children’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Much of the story is set in and around Gare Montparnasse. Replicas of the train crash are recreated outside the Mundo a Vapor (“Steam World”) museum chain buildings in Brazil, at the southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Canela.[7] > **[Gare Montparnasse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_Montparnasse)** > > Gare Montparnasse (French pronunciation: ​\[ɡaʁ mɔ̃paʁnas\]; Montparnasse station), officially Paris-Montparnasse, one of the six large Paris railway termini, is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements. > The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in 1969 to a new station just south of the original location – where subsequently the prominent Montparnasse Tower was constructed. It is a central element to the Montparnasse area. The original station is noted for the Montparnas... ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/5 "2009-08-02T00:40:21Z")
You people are my heroes. I am going to start a rock band called Defenestrated Locomotive now. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/6 "2009-08-02T06:50:59Z")
Just don’t use the pic as your album [cover](http://www.metalkingdom.net/album/img/d41/490.jpg). Whoops! I should have read **Shagnastys** post. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/7 "2009-08-02T23:46:45Z")
Interestingly, “good album cover” was also my first reaction to seeing the photo. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/8 "2009-08-03T14:41:47Z")
This photo is on the front cover of one of my textbooks from college, entitled “An Introduction to Error Analysis.” 🙂 I used the first edition published in 1982; I see that a second edition published in 1996 is still available [here](http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Error-Analysis-Uncertainties-Measurements/dp/093570275X), and it still has the same cover photo. I always thought that it was a perfect cover photo for the book. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/9 "2009-08-03T15:30:37Z")
I first encountered the picture in a Fark thread; it’s one of my favorite [fail pics](http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh288/krispos42/DU/failroad.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/10 "2009-08-03T16:34:45Z")
I remember a popular poster from my college days. It was a line drawing, depicting a train crash into a river (the bridge was out). The caption was “Oh, shit.” The train looked very similar to this one. Does anyone else remember it? Was the poster image adapted from the photo? Or did it depict a different crash? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/11 "2009-08-03T17:43:50Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Replicas of the train crash are recreated outside the Mundo a Vapor (“Steam World”) museum chain buildings in Brazil, at the southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Canela.[7] Now _this_ bit caught me off guard…from what I was able to muddle from web translations, this is [some kind of steampunk-ish museum…thing.](http://www.mundoavapor.com.br/) Looks like an interesting place to visit, if I was ever in Brazil. Maybe someone’ll look into U.S. franchise options. Now I know… [RIGHT]_…say it!_[/RIGHT] ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/12 "2011-08-18T20:54:33Z")
Soon as I saw this photo: [A Truck Dangled in Queens - The New York Times](http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/a-truck-dangles/?scp=1&sq=truck%20through%20window&st=cse) in the NY times, I was put in mind of the subject of this thread. When I googled “locomotive through window”, the first hit was this two year old thread. Well, now we can add defenestrated sanitation truck to defenestrated locomotive. The wiki article speculated that the latter may have contributed to the birth of surrealism. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/13 "2011-08-18T22:01:37Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Now _this_ bit caught me off guard…from what I was able to muddle from web translations, this is [some kind of steampunk-ish museum…thing.](http://www.mundoavapor.com.br/) Looks like an interesting place to visit, if I was ever in Brazil. Maybe someone’ll look into U.S. franchise options. > > Now I know… > [RIGHT]_…say it!_[/RIGHT] If you want to see the recreation, go to Atrações, then hover the cursor over the entrance, Entrada. ---
**Author:** ![benskku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@benskku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benskku)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/14 "2013-01-09T23:11:36Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > A couple years ago on some random place on the intertubes I found [this picture](http://www.friedo.com/train.jpg) of a train which has crashed out the second-story window of a building of some sort. Anybody know what the story behind it is? The name on the building appears to say: > > CHEMINS DE FER > DE L’OUEST > The locomotive has number 721 on the front and a manufacturer logo (?) that looks like it says QUEST. (Or maybe it says OUEST like the building.) It says Chemins de fer de l’Ouest. Raillways of the west. In Paris there are 4 train stations. The North (Gare du Nord), the South (Gare de Lyon), The East (Gare d’Austerlitz) and the West (Gare Montparnasse) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-this-photo-of-a-defenestrated-locomotive/504996/15 "2013-01-10T00:06:39Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Google is your friend. > > [This accident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemins_de_Fer_de_l%27Ouest) happened on 22 October, 1895, at the Montparnasse Station in Paris. There was one fatality . . . a “news agent” who was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. Actually, the vendor was in the right place - away from there. It was his wife that was killed. > [@](#): > > A woman in the street below was killed by falling masonry and two passengers, the fireman, two guards and a passerby in the street sustained injuries.[2] > The woman’s name was Marie-Augustine Aguilard and was standing in for her husband, a newspaper vendor while he went to collect the evening papers. The railway company paid for her funeral and provided a pension to care for their 2 children.