The Granite Railway was only about 3 miles long. It ran between the quarries in Quincy, through East Milton, and to Neponset River. On this day in 1823 there was an accident. It was one of the first recorded railroad accidents.The Granite Railway was notable for other more significant reasons. It introduced the invention of railway switches for example.

Here is an excerpt from This Day in History:

The first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history occurs when four people are thrown off a vacant car on the Granite Railway near Quincy, Massachusetts. The victims had been invited to view the process of transporting large and weighty loads of stone when a cable on a vacant car snapped on the return trip, throwing them off the train and over a 34-foot cliff. One man was killed and the others were seriously injured. (Read the full story here.)