1906 Salisbury rail crash

Last updated

1906 Salisbury rail crash
Railway Disaster at Salisbury, 1st July, 1906.png
Details
Date1 July 1906
1:57 am
Location Salisbury railway station, Wiltshire, England
Coordinates 51°04′15″N1°48′15″W / 51.0708°N 1.8042°W / 51.0708; -1.8042
CountryEngland
Line West of England Main Line
Operator London and South Western Railway
CauseOverspeed on curve
Statistics
Trains3
Passengers43
Deaths28
Injured11
List of UK rail accidents by year

The Salisbury rail crash occurred in England on 1 July 1906, when a boat train from Plymouth to London failed to negotiate a sharp bend at more than twice the speed limit and crashed into another train, killing 28 people. It is believed that the driver was trying to demonstrate the speed of the service, in competition with a rival railway company.

Contents

Incident

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) boat train from Devonport Stonehouse Pool to London Waterloo failed to navigate a very sharp curve at the eastern end of Salisbury station. The curve had a maximum permitted speed of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h), but the express had been travelling at more than 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). The train was completely derailed and smashed into a milk train and a light engine, killing 28 people including the driver and two firemen.

The accident occurred around the time that a short cut for the rival Great Western Railway was opening, and it was claimed that the driver of the crashed train was trying to show that his railway was capable of competitive speeds. It was also rumoured that passengers – mostly rich New Yorkers travelling to London from the transatlantic port at Plymouth – had bribed the driver to run the train as fast as possible, but there was no evidence of this and, if anything, the train had lost time earlier. Conversely, it was stated that drivers often ran through Salisbury very fast to "get a run" at the following hill.

LSWR L12 class 4-4-0 No. 415, similar to the crashed engine BASA-3K-7-518-42.jpg
LSWR L12 class 4-4-0 No. 415, similar to the crashed engine

The crashed train's engine was a new LSWR L12 class 4-4-0 No. 421 with a higher centre of gravity than the earlier T9 class. The most likely cause of the accident is that the driver did not realise the level of risk he was running, particularly as this was the first time he had taken a non-stopping train through Salisbury. Steam locomotives at this time, and for half a century afterwards, were not fitted with speedometers.

As a result of the crash, all trains were required to stop at Salisbury station (the boat train at the time had no passenger stops between Plymouth and Waterloo, although locomotives were changed at Templecombe). [1] The speed limit on the curve east of Salisbury was also reduced to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), a limit still in effect today.

Memorial tablet in Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral (St. Mary) (14853847935).jpg
Memorial tablet in Salisbury Cathedral

There is a memorial tablet to the 28 dead (including the driver, two firemen and the guard) in Salisbury Cathedral.

The accident was the second in a series of three derailments due to excessive speed at night in a 16-month period; the others were at Grantham in 1906 and Shrewsbury in 1907. All three resulted in deaths, including the footplate crews; the cause in each case was recorded as driver error but there has been much speculation since.

See also

Similar accidents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London and South Western Railway</span> British pre-grouping railway company

The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth, and to Padstow, Ilfracombe and Bude. It developed a network of routes in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, including Portsmouth and Reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epsom railway station</span> Railway station in Surrey, England

Epsom railway station serves the town of Epsom in Surrey, England. It is located off Waterloo Road and is less than two minutes' walk from the town's high street. It is 14 miles 18 chains (22.9 km) down the line from London Waterloo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derailment</span> Form of train incident

In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially serious hazard.

The town of Morpeth in Northumberland, England, has what is reputed to be the tightest curve of any main railway line in Britain. The track turns approximately 98° from a northwesterly to an easterly direction immediately west of Morpeth Station on an otherwise fast section of the East Coast Main Line railway. This was a major factor in three serious derailments between 1969 and 1994. The curve has a permanent speed restriction of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuneaton rail crash</span> British rail disaster

The Nuneaton rail crash occurred on 6 June 1975, on the West Coast Main Line just south of Nuneaton railway station in Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amagasaki derailment</span> Japanese train accident, 2005

The Amagasaki derailment occurred in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on 25 April 2005 at 09:19 local time, just after the local rush hour. It occurred when a seven-car commuter train came off the tracks on West Japan Railway Company's Fukuchiyama Line in just before Amagasaki on its way for Dōshisha-mae via the JR Tōzai Line and the Gakkentoshi Line, and the front two cars rammed into an apartment building. The first car slid into the first-floor parking garage and as a result took days to remove, while the second slammed into the corner of the building, being crushed into an L-shape against it by the weight of the remaining cars. Of the roughly 700 passengers on board at the time of the crash, 106 passengers, in addition to the driver, were killed and 562 others injured. Most survivors and witnesses claimed that the train appeared to have been travelling too fast. The incident was Japan's most serious since the 1963 Tsurumi rail accident.

The Sutton Coldfield train crash took place at about 16:13 on 23 January 1955 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, when an express passenger train traveling from York to Bristol, derailed due to excessive speed on a sharp curve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salisbury railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Salisbury railway station serves the cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is 83 miles 43 chains (134.4 km) from London Waterloo on the West of England line to Exeter St Davids. This is crossed by the Wessex Main Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. The station is operated and served by South Western Railway (SWR), and is also served by Great Western Railway (GWR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR L12 class</span>

The London and South Western Railway L12 class was a class of 20 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work by Dugald Drummond. They were introduced to the London and South Western Railway network in 1904. Despite the class being an unremarkable continuation of the Drummond lineage, one member was involved in the infamous Salisbury rail crash in June 1906. None of the class survived into preservation after their brief career in British Railways ownership.

The Eltham Well Hall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 11 June 1972 at approximately 21:35. An excursion train from Margate to Kentish Town derailed on a sharp curve at Eltham Well Hall station, Eltham, London. The curve had a maximum permitted speed to be taken at 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) but the train was estimated to have been travelling at 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) resulting in the locomotive and all but one of the ten carriages derailing.

The Bourne End rail crash occurred on 30 September 1945 when a sleeper train from Perth to London Euston derailed, killing 43. The cause was driver error, possibly compounded by ambiguous signalling regulations.

The Goswick rail crash occurred on 26 October 1947 near the village of Goswick, Northumberland, England. The Flying Scotsman express from Edinburgh Waverley to London King's Cross failed to slow down for a diversion and derailed. Twenty-eight people were killed, including the talented Scottish biochemist, John Masson Gulland. It was the last major accident to occur on British railways before their nationalisation on 1 January 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grantham rail accident</span> Rail accident in Lincolnshire on 19 September 1906

The Grantham rail accident occurred on 19 September 1906. An evening Sleeping-Car and Mail train of the Great Northern Railway, running from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley hauled by Ivatt 'Atlantic' No 276 derailed, killing 14. The accident was never explained; the train ran through Grantham station, where it was scheduled to stop, and derailed on a set of points on a sharp curve at the end of the platform, which at the time had been set for a freight train. No reason was ever established as to why the train did not stop as scheduled, or obey the Caution and Danger signals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrewsbury rail accident</span> Train derailment in Shropshire, UK on 15 October 1907

The Shrewsbury rail accident occurred on 15 October 1907. An overnight sleeping-car and mail train from Manchester to the West of England derailed on the sharply curved approach to Shrewsbury station, killing 18 people and injuring 33. The accident was concluded to be due to excessive speed on a dangerous curve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jokela rail accident</span> Train accident in Tuusula, Finland, on 21 April 1996

The Jokela rail accident occurred on 21 April 1996, at 07:08 local time in Tuusula, Finland, approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of Helsinki. Four people were killed and 75 were injured when express train P82 from Oulu, bound for Helsinki, derailed in heavy fog. The overnight sleeper train was carrying 139 passengers and five crew members. The official investigation into the accident revealed that it was caused by overspeeding through a slow-speed turnout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brühl train derailment</span>

On 6 February 2000, a train at the Brühl railway station on the West Rhine Railway negotiated a low-speed turnout at three times the correct speed and derailed, killing 9 people.

The Milton rail crash was a crash in 1955, at Milton, Berkshire. A passenger train took a crossover too fast and derailed. Eleven were killed, and 157 were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santiago de Compostela derailment</span> 2013 train crash in Galicia, Spain

The Santiago de Compostela derailment occurred on 24 July 2013, when an Alvia high-speed train traveling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside of the railway station at Santiago de Compostela. Of the 178 people injured, the provisional number of deaths in hospital had reached 79 by the following 28 July.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Salisbury rail crash</span> Railway crash in the United Kingdom

The Salisbury Rail Crash was a railway accident on 31 October 2021, at Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. Two trains, travelling on converging lines, collided at Salisbury Tunnel Junction, approximately one mile northeast of Salisbury railway station. Fourteen people, including one of the train drivers, were taken to hospital.

References

  1. British Railway Disasters. Ian Allan Ltd. 1996.