Grantham rail accident

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The Grantham rail accident occurred on 19 September 1906. An evening sleeping-car and mail train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley derailed, killing 14. The accident occurred in mysterious circumstances; the train ran right through Grantham station, where it was scheduled to stop, and derailed on a sharp curve at the end of the platform; no definite cause was ever established. Rolt (1956) described it as "the railway equivalent of the Marie Celeste".

Many possible explanations were put forward, such as the driver going mad, being drunk, taken ill or having a fight with the fireman. However, the clear evidence of the signalman at Grantham was that he had seen both men standing looking forward through the cab front windows, apparently calmly. The platform staff were sure that the brakes on the train were not applied. One possibility is that the driver had a seizure or "micro-sleep" and the inexperienced fireman did not realise until too late. Another, proposed by the Railway Magazine (2006) is a brake failure due to incorrect procedures when the engine was changed at the previous stop, Peterborough.

This was the second of three high-speed night derailments inside a year, the others being at Salisbury (1906) and Shrewsbury (1907). Although the results were the same, the causes appear to be different.

[edit] See also

The reason for the Grantham train accident according to the information published in the Railway Magazine in 2006 is that (a)the fireman of the engine was not the driver's regular fireman but a premium apprentice who had not fired on a passenger train until a day or so before (b) there was a practice of shunters manually releasing the brakes of carriages although this was contrary to the rules (c)the driver was not the most communicative of men. (d)the night before the train had lost time due to the premium apprentice's inexperience. From the information in the Railway Magazine, the shunters at Peterborough manually released the brakes and then by an oversight forgot to couple the engine's brakes to the train. The premium apprentice when asked to test the brakes said that there was enough brake pressure, which there would have been for a light engine. Normally the driver would have tested the brakes between Peterborough and Grantham, but fatally that night in effort to make up lost time he did not. The brakes were applied. The engine was now being pushed by the train. The engine was put into reverse. Whilst the crew were seen to be struggling they were struggling to close the very stiff regulator of the locomotive. Fighting to save their lives if you like. This was also the reason the driver did not whistle to warn signalmen that the train was out of control and so change the points from the Nottingham line to main line. It seems that the driver did shout a message to the station staff which because of the speed the train was travelling at was not heard.

From the Railway Magazine articles there was an outright ban from the following day of the practice of shunters manually releasing the brakes. Also premium apprentices were no longer permitted to act as fireman.

Further no photographs etc exist of the tender and its brake hose after the accident.

The suggestion that the engine and train brakes were not attached was not mentioned in the inquiry into the accident.

From this it is obvious the Great Northern Railway knew exactly the cause of the accident and that there was a cover up. The Great Northern Railway was very worried about losing traffic to its competitors - and one the Midland Railway was right next door to its Kings Cross station at St Pancras.

[edit] References

  • Rolt, L.T.C. (1956 (and later editions)). Red for Danger. Bodley Head / David and Charles / Pan Books. 
  • Hamilton, J.A.B. (1967). British Railway Accidents of the 20th Century (reprinted as Disaster down the Line). George Allen and Unwin / Javelin Books. 
  • Nock, O.S. (1980). Historic Railway Disasters, 2nd ed., Ian Allan. 
  • The Railway Magazine, September and October 2006 issues (main article and discussion).
  • Railways Archive account