Quintishell

[Belmont Road]

Hi I am new to the site and am interested in all aspects of railways.

I have bee researching the Caledonian Railway and have come across some evidence that queries the findings of the cause of the accident.

Anyone have any information?

Jack

[pre65]

Originally Posted by jack richards

Hi I am new to the site and am interested in all aspects of railways.

I have bee researching the Caledonian Railway and have come across some evidence that queries the findings of the cause of the accident.

Anyone have any information?

Jack

Might help if you told us about this "accident" or gave a link to a web site giving details.

I googled "Quintishell" but got nothing ! Wheres my crystal ball ?

[Dave Rowland]

It's Quintinshill - that's why your Google didn't work!
Try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster

[Belmont Road]

Hi sorry about the spelling.

It was Britain's worst railway disaster over 200 killed.

Two signalmen were blamed and served prison sentences. However,in local sources there were suggestions that there may be more to this and driver error may have also been a factor.

Both signalmen were re-employed by the Caledonian railway after they left prison which gave rise to speculation that they may not have been entirely reponsible.

Jack

[ccmmick]

I remember reading about the accident at Quintinshill
A very bad rail disaster.

ccmmick.

[pre65]

The animated diagram on Wikipedia make the accident easier to understand.

Seems both signalman were "sloppy" in the way they undertook their duties. What does this new "evidence" suggest ?

[Belmont Road]

I have come across two possibilities one in a book that I would like to find and the other based on local unpublished reports that may have been supressed, as the first train to crash was a troop train in the first world war there may have been censorship.

The local evidence suggests that the driver of the troop train may have missed signals he certainly approached the block post at high speed.

[garrat]

Thanks for putting that on Dave very interesting.A lot of accidents were caused by overworked signalmen .If you had a box way out somewhere there were times when the relief didnt show till real late and other times when they never turned up at all so some men were on duty for long hours without a rest .

[DSY011]

Hello Jack and welcome to the Railway Forum.

[swisstrains]

I don't see how the driver of the troop train can be held responsible. It had clear signals and was travelling fast because it was on a falling gradient. The signalman who had just come on duty admitted accepting the troop train and clearing the signals. One very important point that was never established was which of the two signalmen gave the "train out of section" signal to the previous box after looping the up goods train. Had this been established it would probably have redistributed the blame but still only between the two signalmen.