The Troop Train accident occurred at Highcliff on July 6,1944, at 9:05 pm

Jellico Librarian Mark J. Tidwell guest spoke at the Campbell County Rotary Club luncheon on Tuesday. He is pictured with Rotary President Debbie Petree, left, and LaFollette Librarian Nancy Green.

By Charlotte Underwood

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Campbell County Rotarians learned about the 1940s Campbell County Troop Train Wreck on Tuesday in a fascinating presentation from Jellico Librarian Mark J. Tidwell.

The wreck happened during World War II, very close to where Tidwell now lives.

The Troop Train accident occurred at Highcliff, Tennessee, on July 6,1944, at 9:05 pm, when Troop Train #47, a southbound second-class passenger train derailed just past Highcliff. In total, 34 soldiers were killed, the crew of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad ‘s #418, and engineer and a fireman were killed and over 100 others injured. The troop train was carrying 1,000 soldiers aboard.

“She jumped the tracks,” were the words of Fireman J.W. Tummins who was killed in the crash. These words are immortalized on the historical marker along Highway 25W, three miles south of Jellico.

Jellico Librarian Mark J. Tidwell presented on Tuesday to the Campbell County Rotary Club about the historic World War II Troop Train Wreck. Tidwell is pictured holding an actual window from the train.

“It was at the height of World War II when 16 million men and women were in the service of the United States, and everything was geared towards the war effort. This train left Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, heading for Camp Croft in South Carolina and it was hurry up for Uncle Sam and get there, so the train was kind of in the grasp of fate, the overall arching thing of World War II and it wrecked there at Highcliff and sadly killed 34 soldiers in the train crash,” Tidwell said.

According to Tidwell after the train wrecked, it “was a huge local rescue effort, with everyone coming together to help the soldiers.” Ambulances, which were often hearses back then, came from all over to help with these rescue efforts. Funeral homes in Tennessee and Kentucky sent their ambulances to help.

Army units from nearby Oak Ridge rushed to the scene as well, helping the local rescuers save as many lives as possible.

“It also sort of exposed Oak Ridge, because a lot of people didn’t know anything about Oak Ridge and what was happening there for the war effort, so when a military police unit showed up from Oak Ridge in Highcliff and they started transporting the wounded and those that were injured to Oak Ridge, that was an eye opener for people,” Tidwell said.

According to the official report, the train consisted of the engine, tender, and 16 cars, with just over 1,000 on board.

The train passed Williamsburg, Kentucky, at 8:42 pm. 13.11 miles north of Highcliff, running eight hours and two minutes late, passed High Cliff, passed signal 202.3, and while it was moving an estimated speed of 45 miles per hour, the engine and first eight cars were derailed.” It was also noted that the locomotive crew was manning a locomotive with an inoperable speed indicator.

The state-side World War II Tragedy left its mark on the area and the names of the soldiers killed on Troop Train #47 are listed on Jellico’s downtown Veteran’s Monument. Soldiers came from five states, including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Missouri.

This highway marker on Highway 25W marks the spot. (PHOTO COURTESY OF WBIR)

Tidwell also showed Rotarians the actual wing window from the locomotive as a special historical treat on Tuesday.

The family of Everett Rollins donated the window to the Jellico library in 2021, Everett took the window on the night of the wreck and passed it down to his family, who eventually after hearing of the history of the train wreck, gifted it to the museum. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-06/18/2025-6AM)

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