- Thirsk rail crash (1967)
The Thirsk rail crash occurred on
31 July 1967 atThirsk ,North Yorkshire ,England on theBritish Rail East Coast Main Line .The 12:00
express train from King's Cross toEdinburgh collided with a derailedcement wagon at about 50 mph. The wagon had been travelling in afreight train on an adjacent line. Seven passengers were killed and 45 were injured.The express was hauled by prototype
locomotive DP2, which was written off in the accident. The driver saw the cloud of dust resulting from the wagon derailment and slowed but was unable to stop in time.The wagon derailment was blamed on excessive wear in the suspension components, thought to be caused by cement dust abrasion, in combination with slight variations in both wheelset diameter and track alignment.
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