Sunshine rail disaster

infobox AU rail accident


title = Sunshine rail disaster
date = 20 April 1908
time =
location = Sunshine, Victoria
location-dist = 13.5
location-dir = NW
location-city = Melbourne
line = Bendigo railway line, Victoria
operator = Victorian Railways
type = Collision
cause =
trains = 2
pax =
deaths = 44
injuries = 400+

The Sunshine rail disaster occurred at the Sunshine railway station, which is the junction for the Ballarat and Bendigo railway lines, km to mi|num=13.5|abbr=yes from Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia.

On the night of 20 April 1908, 44 people were killed and over 400 injured when a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a mail train from Ballarat, which was just leaving the station. Around 1,100 people were aboard the two trains. Almost all of the casualties were from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives. A temporary mortuary was set up at Spencer Street Station (Melbourne's regional terminus, now Southern Cross Station), and flags at the station flew at half-mast. The disaster was the worst train crash in Victorian railway history.

Four were involved in the disaster - three A^A class locomotives - A^A 564 and 544 on the Bendigo service and A^A 534 and 'Old A' 202 on the Ballarat train.Cave, Buckland & Beardsell, "Steam Locomotives of the Victorian Railways - Volume 1: The First Fifty Years", ARHS, Melbourne, 2002, ISBN 1-876677-38-4, p. 179] [Citation | title = Terrible railway disaster | newspaper = The Age | publication-place = Melbourne | publisher = David Syme & Co |year = 1908 | date = 1908-08-21]

It is possible that the accident was caused by the driver of the Bendigo train reading the green signals for the Ballarat train in front as his own. The accident illustrates the value of block telegraph working that would have held the Bendigo train at the previous station.

References

* [http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/goroke/wwm1908.htm Ballarat Genealogy: Newspaper Report of the accident]