3. OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW
  4. OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

This gallery is a sort of compendium of all the bent and the broken, the crashed and the bashed, both steam age and modern, loco and stock, both British and foreign. Most are duplicates of pictures to be found in other galleries, some taken by me and some very obviously not. These pictures are displayed for recreational/information/research purposes only and are not for sale under any circumstances. Every effort has been made to verify the information in the captions but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
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PITSEA - (1) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.
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PITSEA - (1) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.

  • PENRITH - On December 5th, 1903, the 8.10 pm goods train from Liverpool to Carlisle became divided as it was approaching Penrith Station. The driver, on reaching the station, improperly stopped the first portion of the train, causing the rear portion to come into violent collision with it, with the result that several wagons were wrecked, and one or more of them thrown on to the up line. At that instant the 1 am express (sleeping car) train from Carlisle to London reached the place, and collided with the wagons which were foul of the up line. The engine of the express remained on the rails, but the tender was overturned, and all the coaches were derailed and badly damaged. No passengers were hurt, but the driver of the express was burnt and scalded about the head, legs, and hands, and the fireman was bruised and shaken.
  • PENRITH - On March 2nd, 1960, a Camden – Carlisle fitted freight hauled by Black 5 No.45197 on entering the Down Loop at Eamont Junction became derailed with the locomotive becoming buried up to 12ft. in the ground. Most of the 34 wagons were smashed up and the rest derailed and 4 staff were injured. The likely cause was speed on entering the loop. Here we 45197 with broken wagons piled atop.
  • PENRITH - On March 2nd, 1960, a Camden – Carlisle fitted freight hauled by Black 5 No.45197 on entering the Down Loop at Eamont Junction became derailed with the locomotive becoming buried up to 12ft. in the ground. Most of the 34 wagons were smashed up and the rest derailed and 4 staff were injured. The likely cause was speed on entering the loop. These two Palvans were catapulted right over the wreckage and are seen here being recovered.
  • PETERBOROUGH - At 9:45am on Monday August 14th, 1922, a runaway Midland and Great Northern Railway Class Da locomotive smashed into a brake van standing at the buffers and derailed, smashing through the lineside house of railway controller Ernest Cole and family, coming to rest in the kitchen. Ernest’s invalid wife was asleep in the room above the kitchen. She crashed through the floor and landed in the debris below but escaped with cuts and bruises and, not surprisingly, suffering from shock. Ernest’s ten year old daughter escaped unhurt, as did his 75 year old mother in law who was found pinned in the pantry and in severe shock. Cole himself had just left the bedroom when the crash occurred. The engine driver and fireman had jumped from the engine just before impact and escaped unhurt.
  • PETERBOROUGH - At 9:45am on Monday August 14th, 1922, a runaway Midland and Great Northern Railway Class Da locomotive smashed into a brake van standing at the buffers and derailed, smashing through the lineside house of railway controller Ernest Cole and family, coming to rest in the kitchen. Ernest’s invalid wife was asleep in the room above the kitchen. She crashed through the floor and landed in the debris below but escaped with cuts and bruises and, not surprisingly, suffering from shock. Ernest’s ten year old daughter escaped unhurt, as did his 75 year old mother in law who was found pinned in the pantry and in severe shock. Cole himself had just left the bedroom when the crash occurred. The engine driver and fireman had jumped from the engine just before impact and escaped unhurt.
  • PETERBOROUGH - At 9:45am on Monday August 14th, 1922, a runaway Midland and Great Northern Railway Class Da locomotive smashed into a brake van standing at the buffers and derailed, smashing through the lineside house of railway controller Ernest Cole and family, coming to rest in the kitchen. Ernest’s invalid wife was asleep in the room above the kitchen. She crashed through the floor and landed in the debris below but escaped with cuts and bruises and, not surprisingly, suffering from shock. Ernest’s ten year old daughter escaped unhurt, as did his 75 year old mother in law who was found pinned in the pantry and in severe shock. Cole himself had just left the bedroom when the crash occurred. The engine driver and fireman had jumped from the engine just before impact and escaped unhurt.
  • PETERBOROUGH - At 9:45am on Monday August 14th, 1922, a runaway Midland and Great Northern Railway Class Da locomotive smashed into a brake van standing at the buffers and derailed, smashing through the lineside house of railway controller Ernest Cole and family, coming to rest in the kitchen. Ernest’s invalid wife was asleep in the room above the kitchen. She crashed through the floor and landed in the debris below but escaped with cuts and bruises and, not surprisingly, suffering from shock. Ernest’s ten year old daughter escaped unhurt, as did his 75 year old mother in law who was found pinned in the pantry and in severe shock. Cole himself had just left the bedroom when the crash occurred. The engine driver and fireman had jumped from the engine just before impact and escaped unhurt. Seen here looking north underneath Crescent Bridge. This house belonged to the Station Master of the Midland Railway station Peterborough Crescent, which stood to the left of the camera. This opened in 1858 but closed in 1866 when services moved to Peterborough East. Access was down River Lane.
  • PETERBOROUGH - This accident involved the 3.50pm Down express from King's Cross to Leeds. It consisted of 13 bogie coaches, all with central Buckeye couplings except that the tender was screw coupled to the leading coach. The engine was No. 60700, the only one of the W.l class, with 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. The train restarted on time from Peterborough and was running under clear signals. It had attained a speed of about 20 m.p.h., after some slipping of the engine wheels on the rising gradient of 1 in 270, when the engine, the tender and the two leading coaches became completely derailed a few yards beyond the facing points of Westwood Junction, which connects the East Coast main line with the double line of the former Midland Railway, running parallel with it on its Western side. The cause of the derailment was a complete fracture of the right hand frame plate of the engine bogie. The derailment of the bogie wheels was noticed at once by Driver A. B. Barringer who promptly made a full application of the vacuum brake and closed the regulator. The derailment then spread rapidly backward to all wheels of the engine and tender, and all the wheels of the two leading coaches and the leading pair of wheels of the 3rd coach were derailed as the track was broken up. The other 10 coaches remained on the rails.
  • PETERBOROUGH - This accident involved the 3.50pm Down express from King's Cross to Leeds. It consisted of 13 bogie coaches, all with central Buckeye couplings except that the tender was screw coupled to the leading coach. The engine was No. 60700, the only one of the W.l class, with 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. The train restarted on time from Peterborough and was running under clear signals. It had attained a speed of about 20 m.p.h., after some slipping of the engine wheels on the rising gradient of 1 in 270, when the engine, the tender and the two leading coaches became completely derailed a few yards beyond the facing points of Westwood Junction, which connects the East Coast main line with the double line of the former Midland Railway, running parallel with it on its Western side. The cause of the derailment was a complete fracture of the right hand frame plate of the engine bogie. The derailment of the bogie wheels was noticed at once by Driver A. B. Barringer who promptly made a full application of the vacuum brake and closed the regulator. The derailment then spread rapidly backward to all wheels of the engine and tender, and all the wheels of the two leading coaches and the leading pair of wheels of the 3rd coach were derailed as the track was broken up. The other 10 coaches remained on the rails.
  • PETERBOROUGH - This accident involved the 3.50pm Down express from King's Cross to Leeds. It consisted of 13 bogie coaches, all with central Buckeye couplings except that the tender was screw coupled to the leading coach. The engine was No. 60700, the only one of the W.l class, with 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. The train restarted on time from Peterborough and was running under clear signals. It had attained a speed of about 20 m.p.h., after some slipping of the engine wheels on the rising gradient of 1 in 270, when the engine, the tender and the two leading coaches became completely derailed a few yards beyond the facing points of Westwood Junction, which connects the East Coast main line with the double line of the former Midland Railway, running parallel with it on its Western side. The cause of the derailment was a complete fracture of the right hand frame plate of the engine bogie. The derailment of the bogie wheels was noticed at once by Driver A. B. Barringer who promptly made a full application of the vacuum brake and closed the regulator. The derailment then spread rapidly backward to all wheels of the engine and tender, and all the wheels of the two leading coaches and the leading pair of wheels of the 3rd coach were derailed as the track was broken up. The other 10 coaches remained on the rails. Note the broken bogie frame in this picture.
  • PETERBOROUGH - This accident involved the 3.50pm Down express from King's Cross to Leeds. It consisted of 13 bogie coaches, all with central Buckeye couplings except that the tender was screw coupled to the leading coach. The engine was No. 60700, the only one of the W.l class, with 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. The train restarted on time from Peterborough and was running under clear signals. It had attained a speed of about 20 m.p.h., after some slipping of the engine wheels on the rising gradient of 1 in 270, when the engine, the tender and the two leading coaches became completely derailed a few yards beyond the facing points of Westwood Junction, which connects the East Coast main line with the double line of the former Midland Railway, running parallel with it on its Western side. The cause of the derailment was a complete fracture of the right hand frame plate of the engine bogie. The derailment of the bogie wheels was noticed at once by Driver A. B. Barringer who promptly made a full application of the vacuum brake and closed the regulator. The derailment then spread rapidly backward to all wheels of the engine and tender, and all the wheels of the two leading coaches and the leading pair of wheels of the 3rd coach were derailed as the track was broken up. The other 10 coaches remained on the rails. Note the broken frame on the bogie in this picture.
  • PITSEA - (1) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.
  • PITSEA - (2) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.
  • PITSEA - (3) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.<br /> 80075 can be seen lying on it's right side in this picture.
  • PITSEA - (4) On April 18th, 1961, the 12:25 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness service, which was carrying around 150 passengers, was travelling on the Up line in the Down direction; the line at the time of the incident was being worked as single only part way between Laindon and Pitsea due to the then ongoing electrification engineering work. At around 1:34 pm confusion involving the catch points resulted in Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80075 being derailed along with the first four coaches of the eleven coach train. The locomotive ended up on its side leading to extensive damage to the first four carriages causing the death of two passengers and injuries to forty six others. The following day in the house of commons the Minister of Transport Ernest Marples in response to a question from the MP for Billericay Edward Gardner gave a detailed statement of the tragic events. He made note that an emergency bus service was in operation between Pitsea and Laindon and that rush hour trains were diverted via Tilbury to all stops beyond Pitsea. Normal services had resumed by Wednesday 19th July.
  • PORTOBELLO - 37 113 - EE Class 37 Type 3 Co-Co DE - built 02/63 by English Electric as D6813 - 1973 to 37 113 - 13/08/94 ran away and collided 43180, Edinburgh - withdrawn 09/84 - seen here at Portobello Sidings.
  • POTTERS BAR - On 10 February 1946, a local passenger train travelling towards Kings Cross hit a set of buffers at Potters Bar station and the derailed carriages fouled the main line. Two express trains travelling in opposite directions then hit the wreckage. Two passengers were killed and the 17 injured were taken to hospital. The driver of the local train was eventually held to blame but a signalman was found to have contributed to the accident by changing a set of points as the train passed over them.
  • PRESTON-LE-SKERNE (1) - On May 7th, 1965, D350 on 4G98 York - Newbridge Street ran through a set of trap points, derailed and fell down the embankment - the train fouled the running lines and D352 on 1N02 Manchester - Newcastle newspapers ran into the train, also derailing - here we seen D5110 with the York and Newcastle breakdown cranes preparing to recover the loco, 23/05/65.
  • PRESTON-LE-SKERNE (2) - Railway workers scramble about on D350 as they prepare to attach the second crane to the wreck, 23/05/65.
  • PRESTON-LE-SKERNE (3) - With a crane now attached to each end of the loco body, D350 is ready for lifting, 23/05/65.
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