Sun Queen Train Derailment (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the accident occurred. No visible remains exist.

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Here follows an excerpt from "The Iron Road of Franconia" book about the railroad written by local historian Nathaniel Lee.

This accident might have been expected on a Sunday instead of Thursday, July 23, 1942. Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) officials said that a "sun kink" caused the Richmond-bound passenger train called the "The Sun Queen" to derail near Accotink Creek. Track repair crews were working on that very section of track at the time of the accident, but were not at fault. William Aiken, the general superintendent of the RF&P Railroad, explained that severe heat sometimes causes unusual rail expansion, resulting in kinks. The train ran off the tracks at a switch that had kinked, bowing outward by several inches. There were eleven rail cars in the train, and the last car turned over while the two in front ran off the tracks, but remained upright. Nearby Fort Belvoir Hospital treated about 25 passengers for minor injuries.