External links
- Photograph from the National Railway Museum archives
- September 2013 Bugle article pertaining to the Welshampton rail crash
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| Welshampton rail crash | |
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| Details | |
| Date | 11 June 1897 |
| Location | Welshampton |
| Coordinates | 52°54′56″N2°49′55″W / 52.9155°N 2.8320°W |
| Country | England |
| Line | Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway |
| Cause | Excessive speed/track condition |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 12 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
The Welshampton rail crash was a fatal railway accident in the Welsh borders village of Welshampton on 11 June 1897. It resulted in the deaths of 12 people.
An excursion to Barmouth had been organised by the United Sunday Schools of Royton. A group of 320 passengers were on board a train of mixed Cambrian Railways (CR) and Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) stock of 15 carriages, pulled by two locomotives. Earlier in the day a CR guard had complained of the rough-riding of a small 4-wheeled L&YR brake van, which on the return journey was at the front of the train.
The train left Barmouth at 18:00. At about 22:20 one of the engines and 13 of the coaches left the rails of the CR's Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway, 154 yards (141 m) east of Welshampton station. Nine passengers were killed in what was the first fatal accident on the line since it was built, two other passengers and a railway employee died later from injuries.
Although the initial investigation centred on the first carriage to leave the rails, an L&YR third-class brake coach, the enquiry concluded though that the speed of the train was too high considering the state of the track which had many sleepers in need of replacement, also too light a rail for high speed running. The CR disputed the findings and maintained that the L&YR vehicle was to blame.
A memorial on the front of the Town Hall in Royton, Greater Manchester names, those killed in the accident. A second memorial, installed by local people, at the side of the A495 Ellesmere to Whitchurch road, near to the site of the accident, shows the Cambrian Railways coat of arms. The railway line between Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch is now disused and, although some of the line is visible, the site of the accident itself has been ploughed out. Welshampton Station building still exists and has been converted into a house. This second memorial stone is located just in front of its fence by the roadside.
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On 3 June 1998, part of an ICE 1 train on the Hannover–Hamburg railway near Eschede in Lower Saxony, Germany derailed and crashed into an overpass that crossed the railroad, which then collapsed onto the train. 101 people were killed and at least 88 were injured, making it the second-deadliest railway disaster in German history after the 1939 Genthin rail disaster, and the world's worst ever high-speed rail disaster.
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The Cambrian Railways owned 230 miles (370 km) of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the northwest of England via the London and North Western Railway, and the Great Western Railway for connections between London and Wales. The Cambrian Railways amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922 as a result of the Railways Act 1921. The name is continued today in the route known as the Cambrian Line.
The Cambrian Heritage Railways is a heritage railway company, trust and society based at both Llynclys and Oswestry in its restored Oswestry railway station, Shropshire, England.
The English county of Shropshire has a fairly large railway network, with 19 National Rail stations on various national lines; there are also a small number of heritage and freight lines, including the famous heritage Severn Valley Railway running along its eastern border with Worcestershire.
The Cambrian Line, sometimes split into the Cambrian Main Line and Cambrian Coast Line for its branches, is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury, England, westwards to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli in Wales. Passenger train services are operated by Transport for Wales Rail between the western terminals of Pwllheli, in Gwynedd, and Aberystwyth, in Ceredigion, and the eastern terminal at Shrewsbury, Shropshire, as part of the Wales & Borders franchise. The railway line is widely regarded as scenic, as it passes through the Cambrian Mountains in central Wales, and along the coast of Cardigan Bay in Snowdonia National Park.
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Oswestry railway station is a Grade II listed heritage railway station in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was closed when passenger services were withdrawn in 1966. The station building today is used as commercial premises, although the Cambrian Railways Society are restoring it.
The Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway was a railway company that constructed a line from Whitchurch via Ellesmere to Oswestry. Most of the line was in Shropshire but part entered Flintshire, now Wrexham County Borough. It was seen as a link from the local railways around Newtown to the London and North Western Railway, breaking the local monopoly of the Great Western Railway. It opened as a single line in 1863 and 1864. Throughout the construction period it was short of money, and was paid for by the contractor, who took shares. Sporadically through its life it became a useful part of a through route for mineral trains, but it never developed greatly.
The Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway was a railway line that ran from Wrexham in North Wales, to Ellesmere in Shropshire, England. The line opened in 1895 and closed in 1962, except for a residual goods service which itself closed in 1981.
Whittington High Level railway station is one of two former railway stations in the village of Whittington, Shropshire, England.
Welshampton railway station was a station in Welshampton, Shropshire, England. The station was opened on 4 May 1863 and closed on 18 January 1965.
On 21 October 2024, a passenger train heading westwards from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth on the Cambrian Line in Wales collided head-on with another train heading in the opposite direction on a section of single line approximately 900 m west of the passing loop at Talerddig, Powys. The trains had been scheduled to pass at the loop, but the first train failed to stop. Fifteen people were injured in the crash, and one passenger subsequently died. A preliminary investigation found evidence of low wheel/rail adhesion and that the sanders, which help increase adhesion when braking, may not have been working. A formal investigation into the accident was opened on 22 October.
