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The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Fugitive Train Wreck

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A North Carolina town has become a draw for people who want to see the wreckage of the train wreck from the movie “The Fugitive.” But a more interesting – and true – story happened just a pistol shot away. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-fugitive-train-wreck-sylva-north-carolina

Transcript

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0:00.0

Alright, so some of you may have seen the early 90s classic, The Fugitive, it's a movie

0:05.4

starring Harrison Ford.

0:07.0

And the fugitive, of course, Harrison Ford's character is chasing the one-art man and

0:13.1

killed his wife.

0:14.8

That's Jim Buchanan, a writer for the Silva Herald and Western North Carolina, where a lot

0:19.3

of the fugitive was filmed.

0:21.3

Harrison Ford's character, Richard Kimble, was wrongly convicted for the murder, so he's

0:25.2

on a bus on the way to prison.

0:27.7

Suddenly, the other prisoners on the bus try to escape, and in all the commotion, the

0:32.0

bus goes off the road and crashes and slides down a hill until it ends up right on a train

0:37.1

track.

0:41.5

While trying to get a hold of himself after the accident, Richard Kimble realizes there's

0:45.0

a train coming towards the bus, and in a risky move decides to save one of the guards instead

0:49.6

of just getting out of there as fast as he could.

0:52.7

It's one of those really tense moments where you're not sure if the main guy is going

0:55.8

to make it out in time or not, but as you probably have guessed, he does.

1:00.2

Richard Kimble gets the guard to safety and then jumps off the bus at the last second as

1:04.4

the train slams into the center of the bus.

1:11.2

Immediately, fire started along the tracks as the train derails and falls on its side.

1:15.6

The bus, or at least what's left of it, is also on fire.

1:19.7

But what a lot of people who have watched that movie probably don't know is that that

1:23.8

train and bus collision was real.

...

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