long shot dept

This forum is for the discussion of the LNER, its constituent companies, and their histories.

Moderators: 52D, Tom F, Rlangham, Atlantic 3279, Blink Bonny, Saint Johnstoun, richard

Post Reply
silverfox
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
Posts: 386
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:49 pm

long shot dept

Post by silverfox »

Can anyone recall an incident involving a Deltic on the 16.00 Edinburgh -Kings Cross in mid 1966
Apparently it hit a car driven by a US serviceman who survived. It seems this happened north of Peterborough as the train was stopped and examined by the guard and all seemed ok so it went forward to Peterborough where it was examined by the C+W who said all ok and it ran onto Kings Cross
I have looked for a RI report for around that time. Would such an incident back then be thought of being of little consequence as not to warrant a report?
Hatfield Shed
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:34 pm

Re: long shot dept

Post by Hatfield Shed »

silverfox wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:25 pm ...Would such an incident back then be thought of being of little consequence as not to warrant a report?
Recorded, but little more. We are still more than ten years away from Peter Parker's appointment as BR chairman, and my recollection is that while holding that office he was asked 'And how many people are you planning to kill this year?'. That was the beginning of the current more rigorous approach to understanding where the safety deficiencies were.

This was still 'the old railway' which largely set its own standards. I remember very well Peter Townend's description of a night time freight collision at Hitchin in 1958, which his KX and Peterborough crews had cleared up. Two down empty mineral trains in collision, the wreckage of which an up fast freight ran into, resulting in that train also being comprehensively derailed, and the resulting wreckage from that train also knocking over an L1 running light engine on the down slow. The ECML blocked with wagon wreckage across the four running lines, three derailed locomotives, but fortunately no serious injuries to the train crews. Peter Townend considered this a 'minor incident'...
silverfox
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
Posts: 386
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:49 pm

Re: long shot dept

Post by silverfox »

Thanks

surprised me nothing official done esp as a US serviceman was involved
Dave S
GNSR D40 4-4-0
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:46 pm

Re: long shot dept

Post by Dave S »

I saw the thread title and immediately thought of The Pioneers'........showing my youth... :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAec0h4lds
User avatar
thesignalman
GCR D11 4-4-0 'Improved Director'
Posts: 431
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:37 pm

Re: long shot dept

Post by thesignalman »

silverfox wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:25 pm ...Would such an incident back then be thought of being of little consequence as not to warrant a report?
An internal report, yes, but if it was non-fatal (as stated) it wouldn't warrant any kind of public enquiry. And it must have been minor damage if the locomotive wasn't damaged, requiring a loco change.

John
"BX there, boy!"
Signalling history: https://www.signalbox.org/
Signalling and other railway photographs: https://433shop.co.uk/
Mickey
LNER V2 2-6-2 'Green Arrow'
Posts: 1191
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 7:27 am
Location: London

Re: long shot dept

Post by Mickey »

Hatfield Shed wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:27 pm This was still 'the old railway' which largely set its own standards. I remember very well Peter Townend's description of a night time freight collision at Hitchin in 1958, which his KX and Peterborough crews had cleared up. Two down empty mineral trains in collision, the wreckage of which an up fast freight ran into, resulting in that train also being comprehensively derailed, and the resulting wreckage from that train also knocking over an L1 running light engine on the down slow. The ECML blocked with wagon wreckage across the four running lines, three derailed locomotives, but fortunately no serious injuries to the train crews. Peter Townend considered this a 'minor incident'...
I have seen the pictures of the aftermath of this 'pile up' near Hitchin South box and the pictures look like a major SMASH UP had happened!!. Signalman Roy Revell who passed away 6 or 7 years ago and whose son came on this forum to announce his father's death was at Stevenage North box on the night of this collision. Nowadays that collision would be national news although back in 1958 I presume it may have only received a brief mention in the local Hitchin weekly newspaper.
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.
Post Reply