The Great Crush Collision, written in 1896, is dedicated to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. It is a musical description of an actual locomotive accident that was masterminded as a publicity stunt byWilliam George Crush. Two old locomotives Nos.999 and 1001 locked head on as their engineers jumped to safety to the applause of an excited crowd. The huge success of this pre-hollywoodish event inspired Scott Joplin tocompose this ususual 'character' piece.

This work is one of six transcriptions of Joplin rags. At the conclusion of each an interlude - or hinge- has been appended. They are meant to be used as a possible(optional)connection for the various Joplin-Marcinak arrangements, so that each piece can be played singly or as part of a selective group.