The Spanish River derailment was a rail transport accident that occurred on 21 January 1910, on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Webbwood Subdivision, where the railway crosses the Spanish River near the settlement of Nairn near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. A westbound passenger express train derailed and crashed into the Spanish River bridge, killing at least 43 passengers, though the death count varies. The cause was never established, but was believed to be poor track condition and/or speeding and braking on a curve. Disaster Derailment Accounts of the derailment are widely conflicting. This is likely due to a multitude of factors, such as the relatively low number of survivors, the fact that there were no external witnesses to the crash, and the fact that some details were reported incorrectly by newspapers throughout North America in the days that followed the crash. During the early afternoon on 21 January 1910, the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) No. 7 Soo Express passenger train was travelling west along the Webbwood Subdivision line, carrying 100 passengers. It consisted of seven cars along with the engine: a baggage car, a mail car, a colonist car, a second-class coach, a first-class coach, a dining car, and a sleeping car (commonly known at the time as a Pullman car). While rounding a curve in the lead-up to the Spanish River bridge, the train began lurching from side to side. At some point, the second-class coach became detached from the front of the train in the run up to the bridge, but was driven forward by momentum and derailed. The second-class coach rammed into the iron structure of the bridge, which cleaved it into two pieces, and burst into flames as a result of the oil stoves used to heat its interior. One half of the coach immediately fell into the river below while second half of the coach remained on the tracks, causing an obstacle which led to the derailment of the remainder of the train. The first-class coach was the second car to fall from the bridge embankment, breaking cleanly through the ice and sinking deep into the river. Following the first-class coach, the dining car was the third to fall into the river, but less deeply than the first-class coach, sparing the kitchen end of the car. The sleeping car turned on its side into a snowbank and was largely protected from the consequences of the crash.