Resource Pack Accidents

Railway Accidents
Accidents on Britains railways (and on Irish railways prior to 1922) were

independently investigated by a government department, which from the
1840s until 1919 was the Board of Trade, and for many years thereafter the
Ministry of Transport. The prime motive was not to apportion blame but to
identify any shortcomings in operating procedures, and where appropriate to
make recommendations as to how improvements could be made or rectifying
measures taken in the future.
The great majority of accidents (to passenger trains) reported upon amounted
to collisions and derailments, and these peaked in number during the 1880s,
after which they greatly declined despite a continuing increase in total train
mileage for a further thirty years. This was a reflection upon the steady
improvements made in railway safety. In earlier years there were number of
accidents due to materials failures, e.g. broken axles, leading to derailments,
and locomotive boiler explosions, particularly in the 1870s, which were
comparatively rare after 1900. There were also train fires, late examples being
those at Beattock (1950) and Taunton (1978), and bridge failures, e.g. that of
the original Tay Bridge (1879), which was partly attributable to extreme
weather conditions. Weather was a significant factor in several accidents,
e.g. strong winds (Arnside, 1902); falling snow (Elliott Junction, 1906) and
thick fog (Harrow & Wealdstone, 1952). Occasionally, even well into the 20 th
century minor (steam) locomotive design features were responsible for
serious accidents, as at Milton (1955) and Settle (1960).
An almost complete set of railway accident reports from the 1840s to the
present are on open the open shelves in Search Engine. Some reports from
this period are accompanied by exquisite coloured plans, which show in detail
the site of an accident, or sometimes illustrate the failure of a locomotive
boiler. Only for a very limited period, around 1880, were the actual identities
of the dead and injured listed. Reports with regard to a specific location,
company and cause of accident can be identified on our library catalogue
(www.nrm.org.uk/librarycatalogue). By way of analysis there are also Annual
Reports of Railway Accidents, 1920-1982, restyled as Railway Safety from
1983. Accidents that have occurred since 2006 can be viewed online via the
Railway Accident Investigation Board
www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports.cfm or the Railways
Archive website www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/. This website has both recent
and historic reports.
Recommended Reading:
Bibel, George. Train wreck : the forensics of rail disasters Baltimore : Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2012.
Updated March 2014
http://yorsearch.york.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?docId=44
YORK_ALMA_DS21219007310001381
Burkhill-Howarth, David. The deadly tablet : the Abermule railway disaster of
1921. Stroud : Tempus, 2007
YORK_ALMA_DS21216655990001381
Gray, Adrian. East Coast main line disasters York : Pendragon Publishing,
2013.
YORK_ALMA_DS21252223930001381
Gwynn, Robin ; Hoggarth, Norman. Railway disaster mail. Crowborough :
Stuart Rossiter Trust, 2010.
YORK_ALMA_DS21205262220001381
Hall, Stanley. Hidden dangers : railway safety in the era of privatisation
Shepperton: Ian Allan, 1999
YORK_ALMA_DS21192031190001381
Hall, Stanley. Railway detectives : the 150-year saga of
he Railway Inspectorate London : Ian Allan, 1990
YORK_ALMA_DS21191995750001381
Hewison, Christian H. Locomotive boiler explosions Newton Abbot : David &
Charles, 1983.
YORK_ALMA_DS21191984270001381
Jack, Ian. The crash that stopped Britain London : Granta Books, 2001.
YORK_ALMA_DS21191991760001381
Lewis, Peter. Beautiful railway bridge of the silvery Tay : reinvestigating the
Tay Bridge disaster of 1879. Stroud : Tempus, 2004.
YORK_ALMA_DS21211805390001381
Marsden, C. J. ; Perkins, Christopher G. Modern traction rail mishaps : a
pictorial study of accidents, derailments and collisions Dawlish : Railway
Centre.Com, 2011
YORK_ALMA_DS21194866560001381
Rolt, L.T.C. Red for danger : a history of railway accidents and railway safety
London: Pan Books, 1978. 3rd ed.
Updated March 2014
YORK_ALMA_DS21191949130001381
Richards, Jack ; Searle, Adrian. The Quintinshill conspiracy : the shocking
true story behind Britain's worst rail disaster Barnsley : Pen & Sword
Transport, 2013.
YORK_ALMA_DS21251132400001381
Thomas, John. Gretna: Britain's worst railway disaster (1915) Newton Abbot
: David & Charles, 1969.
YORK_ALMA_DS21221667780001381
Trevena, Arthur. Trains in trouble : railway accidents in pictures Penryn :
Atlantic Books, 1980-1993
YORK_ALMA_DS21191985570001381
Photographic Collection
The NRM holds photographs relating to the aftermath of a number of
accidents. We have the R D May Collection, which consists of scrap albums
containing the immediate national press coverage of major accidents on
British Railways between 1950 and 1964. This is particularly extensive for the
Harrow & Wealdstone (1952) and Lewisham (1957) accidents, which were
respectively the second and third most serious accidents in British Railway
history in terms of the number of fatalities. We also have Photographic
Reference Binders (numbers 420-422) that feature railway accidents
http://www.nrm.org.uk/~/media/Files/NRM/PDF/archiveslists2012/other/Photo
graphic%20Reference%20Binders%20list.pdf
Archive Collections
Booklet, Prevention of accidents to staff engaged in railway operation, issued
by London Midland and Scottish Railway and printed by Waterlow and Sons
Limited.
Object no. 1996-7069/8
Booklet "Instructions to Agents of the Railway Passengers Assurance
Company for insuring against accidents of all kinds, or against Railway
Accidents exclusively. For Railway Station Agents exclusively", 1872.
Object no. 1998-9577
Memo book, used for recording accidents 'ambulance requisition', for Ferryhill
Station, North Eastern Railway, handwritten between 1911 and 1969.
Object no. 1998-10388
Updated March 2014
Notebook with shorthand notes about a railway accident, possibly a

derailment near Bangor, and script notes about a Council Meeting at
Prestatyn
Object no. 1998-11265
Booklet issued by the Railway Passengers Assurance Company on their
centenary, 1849-1949, entitled 'The Oldest Accident Office in the World, being
the story of the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, 1849-1949'.
Compiled by F. Hayter Cox. 67 pages, with illustrations in red card cover
printed with the Railway Passengers Assurance Company's crest.
Certificate awarded to Mrs Gladys Axon in recognition of her husband John
Axon's bravery at the Chapel-en-le-Frith accident 1957.
Letter from the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway, Traffic
Managers Office dated 22 June1860 reference T/6/88/53 regarding the
accident at Laister Dyke 13th June 1860.
Bundle of London & North Eastern Railway and British Railways memoranda
from the District Superintendent concerning accidents and mishaps, including
reporting of accidents, medical attendance, press facilities at and photography
of accidents, personal accidents on the line, etc., from 1923 to 1949. From
Langrick station, Lincolnshire.
Object no. 2004-8194/14
File of Great Central Railway papers relating to the death of Fireman A.W.
Ford, fatally injured at Wortley on locomotive no. 444 on 23 February 1916.
Includes reports, correspondence, particulars of the accident, papers re
compensation to his widow, evidence from the inquest, etc.
Great Eastern Railway Employees' Accident Benevolent Fund Index giving
particulars of cases in which application has been made for grants, 1913 to
1923. Divided into alphabetical sections, then each section arranged
chronologically by date of the Fund committee meeting which awarded the
compensation. Each entry gives the employee's name, occupation,
department, station, nature of injury, date of injury, date of committee meeting
which awarded compensation, and remarks, usually detailing compensation
amounts or treatment.
Cutting from The Strand entitled 'Charles Dicken's railway accident as
described by hmself and illustrated by actual photographs by B.K. Field. With
black and white images.
Updated March 2014
Cartoons, collection of 43 Accident Prevention Service cartoons (used as a

method of communicating new Health & Safety rules for the railways), British
Railways, late 1960's, captions by Jack Nicholson, drawings by William
Glasgow, photograph of both men at work taken in 1967.
Object no. E2004.24.1
File, card folder with paper contents, Train Crash 8.10.52 Harrow &
Wealdstone, assembled by Dr. G.E. Graves Peirce, Regional Medical Officer,
British Railways (London Midland Region). Contains a copy of the accident
report, typed internal report on the medical response, notes and
correspondence for a speech by Dr. Graves Peirce at a St. John's Ambulance
conference. The Harrow & Wealdstone crash occured on 8 October 1952,
when a Perth-Euston express ran into the back of a local train and was then
struck by a Euston-Manchester express. 112 people were killed.
Object no. E2012.434.3
Great Western Railway/ British Railways Western Region. Record of
accidents (1923 -1962)
Updated March 2014

Resource Pack Accidents

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Resource Pack Accidents

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Railway Accidents

Accidents on Britains railways (and on Irish railways prior to 1922) were

Updated March 2014

Updated March 2014

Notebook with shorthand notes about a railway accident, possibly a

Updated March 2014

Cartoons, collection of 43 Accident Prevention Service cartoons (used as a

Updated March 2014

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