1941 Eccles rail crash

Last updated

Eccles rail crash 1941
Details
Date30 December 1941
08:18
Location Eccles, Lancashire
CountryEngland
Line Liverpool to Manchester Line
Operator London Midland and Scottish Railway
Incident typeCollision
Cause Signal passed at danger, fog, error in working practices
Statistics
Trains2
Deaths23
Injured57
List of UK rail accidents by year

The 1941 Eccles rail crash occurred on 30 December 1941 at the east end of Eccles railway station in Lancashire, England.

Contents

Events

A westbound train [lower-alpha 1] passed danger signals in fog in the wartime blackout and collided at about 30 mph with an eastbound train [lower-alpha 2] traversing a crossover. A major contributory cause was that the signalman had erroneously suspended "fog working", which would give greater distances between trains, due to a misunderstanding about whether fogmen were on duty. The fog was worsened by the nearby Manchester Ship Canal and visibility was as low as 10 yards. [1]

Inquiry

An inquiry into the accident was opened on 7 January 1942. [2]

At the conclusion of the Inquiry the Ministry of Transport Inspector blamed the signalman for the accident. [3] The Rochdale train should not have been permitted to go towards the occupied junction, which was caused by the signalman not observing the block regulations and a confusion over which fogmen were on duty. [3] The driver was also held partly to blame for his speed in low visibility conditions which would not allow him to observe the signals. [3] The Inspector also noted that if the trains had been fitted with an automatic train control system, which had been recently trialled by the LMS in the London area, it would have prevented the collision in the fog. [3]

Victims

Initial reports were at least 15 people were killed and 100 injured; [4] some later died in hospital and a total of 23 people were killed and 57 had serious injuries. [3]

Notes

  1. The 06:30 from Rochdale to Pennington
  2. The 06:53 from Kenyon Junction to Manchester Exchange

Related Research Articles

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Pre-1923 grouping British Railway Company

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern England.

Quintinshill rail disaster 1915 railway accident in Scotland

The Quintinshill rail disaster was a multi-train rail crash which occurred on 22 May 1915 outside the Quintinshill signal box near Gretna Green in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It resulted in the deaths of over 200 people, and is the worst rail disaster in British history.

Colwich rail crash 1986 rail crash at Colwich Junction, England

The Colwich rail crash occurred on the evening of Friday 19 September 1986 at Colwich Junction, Staffordshire, England. It was significant in that it was a high speed collision between two packed express trains. One driver was killed, but no passengers died because of the great strength of the rolling stock involved, which included examples of Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 coaches.

Invergowrie rail accident

The Invergowrie rail accident happened at Invergowrie, Scotland on 22 October 1979. The accident killed 5 people and injured 51 others.

Glenbrook rail accident

The Glenbrook rail accident occurred on 2 December 1999 at 8:22 am on a curve east of Glenbrook railway station on the CityRail network between Glenbrook and Lapstone, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Seven passengers were killed and 51 passengers were taken to hospital with injuries when a CityRail electric interurban train collided with the rear wagon of the long-haul Perth-to-Sydney Indian Pacific.

Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash 1952 train wreck in Wealdstone, England

The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash was a three-train collision at Harrow and Wealdstone station in Wealdstone, Middlesex during the morning rush hour of 8 October 1952. 112 were killed and 340 injured, 88 of these being detained in hospital, and it remains the worst peacetime rail crash in the United Kingdom and the second deadliest overall. The Quintinshill rail disaster of 1915 had 226 fatalities.

The Winwick rail crash took place at Winwick Junction, near Warrington on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, on 28 September 1934. Two trains collided, resulting in 11 deaths and 19 injured.

Lewisham rail crash 1957 train wreck in Lewisham, London, England

On the evening of 4 December 1957, two trains crashed in dense fog on the South Eastern Main Line near Lewisham in south-east London, causing the deaths of 90 people and injuring 173. An electric train to Hayes had stopped at a signal under the bridge, and the following steam train to Ramsgate crashed into it, destroying a carriage and causing the bridge to collapse onto the steam train. The bridge had to be completely removed; it was over a week before the lines under the bridge were reopened, and another month before the bridge was rebuilt and traffic allowed over it.

The Audenshaw Junction rail accident occurred on the evening of 20 May 1970 near Guide Bridge railway station, Greater Manchester, England. A Class 506 electric multiple unit train from Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield had started away from a signal when a set of points moved underneath the train, causing it to be derailed and throwing the centre carriage onto its side. Two passengers were killed and 13 were injured.

1984 Eccles rail crash

The 1984 Eccles rail crash occurred on 4 December 1984 at Eccles, Greater Manchester, when an express passenger train collided at speed with the rear of a freight train of oil tankers. The driver of the express and two passengers were killed, and 68 people were injured. The cause of the accident was determined to be that the driver of the express train had passed a signal at danger.

The Wrawby Junction rail crash was a train crash which occurred on 9 December 1983, at Wrawby Junction, near Barnetby station, North Lincolnshire, England.

St. Bedes Junction lies between Jarrow and Bede Metro stations on what was the North Eastern Railway line between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shields. From the junction, a mineral line descends on a gradient of 1 in 100 to Tyne Dock Bottom. On 17 December 1915, in the early morning in fog, a goods train ran out onto the main line past St Bedes signalbox having been banked in the rear up the incline by a six-coupled tank engine. The banking engine, uncoupled, dropped away from the goods train and came to a stand on the up main line, but was not seen by the signalman. Shortly afterwards, the signalman accepted the 07:05 passenger train from South Shields to Newcastle on the up line and the 06:58 empty stock train from Hebburn to South Shields which was travelling at about 10 mph (16 km/h). The passenger train collided with the rear of the banking engine at 30 mph (48 km/h), telescoping the two leading coaches. Almost immediately the empty stock train collided with the wreckage, killing the fireman. A subsequent enquiry suggested that 18 people lost their lives instantaneously during the collision. The gas-lit passenger coaches were then consumed by fire. 81 people were injured.

The Ratho Rail crash occurred on 3 January 1917 and killed 12 people. It occurred near Ratho Station in Scotland when an express collided with a light engine in stormy weather.

The Marden rail crash occurred on 4 January 1969 near Marden, Kent, United Kingdom, when a passenger train ran into the rear of a parcels train, having passed two signals at danger. Four people were killed and 11 were injured. One person was awarded the British Empire Medal for his part in the aftermath of the collision.

1944 Ilford rail crash

The 1944 Ilford rail crash occurred on 16 January 1944 when, in darkness and dense fog, an express passenger train passed a signal at danger and collided with another passenger train that was stopped at Ilford railway station in Essex, England.

The Ballymacarrett rail crash occurred on 10 January 1945 at 7:50am in the Ballymacarrett area of Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland on the Belfast to Bangor Line of the Belfast and County Down Railway, when a train led by a heavy autotrain driving trailer ran into the back of a stopped passenger train consisting of lightweight wooden coaches. 22 died with 27 injured. It was the worst crash in Northern Ireland since 1889. The cause was found to be carelessness of the driver of the autotrain who was running too fast for conditions. Fog, unsafe railway rules, and possible distraction from passengers all may have contributed to the accident. Old lightweight rolling stock contributed to the great number of injuries and deaths. The accident led to the demise of the railway which was nationalised three years later.

The 1947 Doncaster rail crash was a fatal rail incident that occurred just south of Doncaster station at Bridge Junction. A train was signalled onto an occupied line and the ensuing collision resulted in 18 deaths and 188 injuries. Both trains and signalling were operated by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).

References

  1. Wilson, Major G R S (9 April 1942), Accident Report (PDF), Ministry of War Transport, retrieved 12 November 2008 (Poor-quality scanned typescript)
  2. "Inquiry into Train Collision". The Times. No. 49128. London. 8 January 1942. p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Signalman was Confused - Blamed for Eccles train crash". Newcastle Evening Chronicle. 25 April 1942.
  4. "15 Killed and 100 Injured in Eccles Rail Crash". Manchester Evening News. 30 December 1941.

Coordinates: 53°29′07″N2°19′52″W / 53.4854°N 2.3311°W / 53.4854; -2.3311