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quintinshill rail disaster
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C . R . TRA I N REG I STER
At 6.38 the first of the late running, north–bound expresses ran past.
At 6.42,Tinsley, who had now taken over duty, with no formal handover
from Meakin who had simply moved back to read the paper Tinsley had
brought with him with the latestWar news,forgot the local on the wrong
line, and changed the signal to allow a south-bound special, the troop
train, to continue towards Quintinshill.
The troop train itself was running late and making best speed to catch
up its timetable. At 6.50 it thundered under Blacksike Bridge, some
200 yards before the Quintinshill Signal Box, and only then could the
driver see the local train halted on the line in front, giving him no time
to apply the brakes; the troop train ploughed into the local. Less than
a minute later, the second express from Carlisle, whose driver’s sightline
was affected by the long left-handed curve as he approached Quintinshill,
ran,with its brakes full on, having been alerted to the crash by the quick
response of the Guard from the local train running back down the track
waving his arms, but still at high speed, into the wreckage of the two
trains which now blocked both main lines.
The troop train was made up mainly of older wooden six-wheeled
coaches, many lit with gas oil lamps with the fuel stored in tanks under
the carriages. The wood of the coaches, combined with escaping gas, led
to fire spreading very quickly and fiercely, killing many who had not died
in the crash itself.The express,being mainly steel coaches lit by electricity,
suffered relatively few casualties.
At the subsequent Board of Enquiry blame was laid on the
signalmen,Meakin andTinsley, since they had been making irregular,and
unauthorised,hand-overs of duties to suit themselves – at around 6.30am
rather than at the correct time of 6 o’clock. Meakin kept a pencil note
of the train movements that took place after 6.00 am until the arrival
of Tinsley, who then copied the notes into the train register in his own
handwriting – otherwise the railway authorities would have noticed the
irregular practice when they checked the record.