On the morning of July 12, 1888, the incident occurred when a trestle collapsed as a passenger train was atop it.

Though Virginia newspapers were full of reports of small train accidents, there were typically few deaths.

The wreck at Fat Nancy was Virginia's first experience with a train crash that resulted in multiple deaths and large-scale injuries.

"[4] One of the deceased was Cornelius G. Cox, the civil engineer who had designed a culvert to replace the trestle, which was known to be unstable.

[5] One of the surviving passengers was former Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet, who was returning from the 25th reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg.