Winwick rail crash

The Winwick rail crash took place at Winwick Junction, near Warrington on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, on September 28 1934.

General

Although the signalman on duty was ultimately responsible for the collision, there were several contributing factors. The junction layout was complex, and linked two lines which both carried heavy rail traffic. There was so much traffic in fact, that the signalman had a booking lad with him in the signal box. The booking lad's function was to keep the train register and use it to remind the signalman of the position of trains within the section at any time.

Shortly after ten o'clock at night, a local train entered the section. It was due to be turned off onto a branch line, but the signalman was busy with traffic on the other line. The local train therefore came to a halt at the signals, and the fireman left the train to walk to the signal box to carry out Rule 55, by which he was to remind the signalman of the train's presence and ensure that it was protected.

Before he could reach the signal box, the signalman at Winwick Quay rang "Call attention" for an express train from Euston. He expected to receive the reply, "Track occupied" and then intended to follow with the call for "Shunt engine for following train to pass". However, the signalman at Winwick Junction forgot that the local train was standing at his signals, and thought that he had failed to clear his block instruments. He gave the reply, "Train out of section" and cleared his signals. The booking lad, whose sole purpose was to alert him to the position of the train, failed to do so, and instead used guesswork to fill in the train log, indicating the local train was out of the section.

Collision

When the signals cleared, the driver of the local began moving forward slowly to pick up the fireman, but was struck by the express running at high speed. Even though the coaches of the local train were modern steel rolling stock, three of them were badly telescoped. Twelve passengers died.

Aftermath

The booking lad was held to be chiefly to blame. The potentially confusing order of signals was also a factor, as was the lack of a telephone at the signal post, or a track circuit which would have alerted the signalman that the track was occupied and prevented him accepting the express. The Inspecting Officer's report recommended that these be installed at the junction.

Similar accidents

* Hawes Junction rail crash
* Quintinshill rail crash

See also

* List of British rail accidents

Sources

*"Red for danger", L.T.C. Rolt, Pan, ISBN 0-330-25555-X

External links

* [http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Winwick1934.pdf Inspector of Railways' report, from railwaysarchive.com]