On December 20, 1917, a catastrophic collision in Shepherdsville occurred when the southbound express train Flyer, running behind schedule from Louisville toward Nashville, struck the local passenger train Accommodation on the main track as it was preparing to back into a siding. The Accommodation had stopped by the depot to unload passengers while its conductor checked the Flyer's location, uncertain whether he could reach Bardstown Junction ahead of it. After the Flyer passed Brooks Station at 5:24 and Gap-In-Knob three minutes later, its engineer, expecting to pass Shepherdsville without slowing, misread signals in the haze and received warning too late to avoid the crash. The heavier steel express train tore through the wooden rear car of the Accommodation, killing many instantly, hurling passengers amid shattered wood, glass, benches, and roofing, then smashed into the smoker car and scattered wreckage and bodies along the track and into the nearby underpass. Witnesses rushed to help, Shepherdsville's doctors arrived quickly, and houses, churches, and stores were opened to care for the injured and dying. Forty-nine people died that evening or soon afterward, and nearly as many others suffered serious injuries, some permanently life-changing.