Victims of deadliest train crash in Kentucky history remembered
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SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Dec. 20 marks 100 years since the deadliest train crash in Kentucky history.
On Dec. 20, 1917, 49 people were killed when an express train rear-ended a passenger train that was stopped in Shepherdsville.
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The victims were remembered Wednesday night with an event at the Rigway Memorial Library in Bullitt County.
The oldest victim was 69, and the youngest just eight-months-old.
They were on their way home from Louisville, when the crash happened.
"These folks were preparing for Christmas. They were buying Christmas presents, they were ready to go home and celebrate," "Train Wreck" author Charlie Hartley told us. "And in a moment's notice their lives were forever changed or ended."
The crash was blamed on human error.
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Investigators say the express train was running behind and trying to make up time.
The conductor didn't see that the passenger train had stopped on the tracks.
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