Railway accident in the Welwyn Tunnel
In the railway accident in the Welwyn Tunnel on June 9, 1866, three freight trains collided in the Welwyn North Tunnel . Two people died. After the damage to property and material, it is said to have been one of the largest rail accidents in Great Britain .
Starting position
Infrastructure and train protection
The Welwyn tunnels are located about 40 km north of London in the Welwyn area , between the stations Welwyn North (then: Welwyn) and Knebworth , on the East Coast Main Line . The northern tunnel is about 1000 meters long and was equipped with vertical ventilation shafts. The track was already four tracks expanded in the tunnel but only two tracks. The traffic through both tunnels was secured with a common non-automatic route block . A subsequent train was only allowed to enter the line with the two tunnels if the track keeper behind the two tunnels had confirmed that the first train had left the tunnel.
At each end of the line with the two tunnels, to the south in Welwyn and to the north in Knebworth, which were about 5 km apart, a line attendant was stationed. They communicated with one another with a simple pointer telegraph . This system transmitted information through the number of deflections of a pointer, that is, for a certain number of deflections it was determined what that meant. Only a pointer deflection made the difference between the meanings “No / train is still in the tunnel” and “Yes / train has left the tunnel”.
traffic
Three trains were involved in the accident:
- The first train consisted of 38 empty coal wagons and a freight train escort car at the end of the train, which were pulled by a tank locomotive. It ran north and was let into the tunnel from Welwyn at around 11:20 p.m. After the train had driven about 150 meters into the tunnel, a pipe burst in the boiler, water ran into the fire and the development of steam subsided so that the locomotive stopped.
- This first train was followed by a Midland Railway train from London with 26 freight cars , which the signal south of the tunnel initially commanded "stop".
- In the opposite direction, i.e. to the south, an express freight train operated by the Great Northern with meat for Smithfield Market in London . It consisted of a locomotive with a tender and 31 cars.
the accident
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
After the first train broke down, a discussion broke out between the train driver and the engine driver : The train driver suggested letting the train roll downhill from the tunnel back to Welwyn, the engine driver refused because it was too dangerous stopped and it violated the regulations. The platoon leader should now have secured the train to the rear with blasting capsules , which he failed to do. Neither of them thought of calling one of the two track guards.
The track man at Welwyn, waiting for the second train, wired his colleague in Knebworth to ask if the first train had left the tunnel. He answered - which is controversial - either accidentally "yes" or "no" and the track attendant in Welwyn accidentally read "yes". In any case, he assumed that the tunnel was free and released the approaching second train, which had already braked, at around 11:36 p.m. The train drove through. In the smoky tunnel, he drove up to the first at 30-40 km / h. The engine driver hadn't seen the train in front of him. Numerous wagons derailed and also got into the clearance profile of the track in the opposite direction. The locomotive crew of the approaching train was buried under coal sliding forward, was able to free itself within two minutes, survived the accident with minor injuries and was able to flee towards Welwyn. But the driver of the first train was killed and a railroad worker on board died a few days later from the injuries suffered.
Before one of the track attendants could be contacted, the Knebworth operator had the express freight train coming from the north enter the tunnel. This also derailed when he drove into the rubble of the two crashed trains. The rubble caught fire. The locomotive crew were able to escape from the tunnel beforehand. The scene of the accident was directly under one of the ventilation shafts. This created a chimney effect that started the fire very quickly and made extinguishing impossible. The fire burned for two days, with the flames coming out of the ventilation shaft. The whole area is said to have smelled of burned meat.
consequences
Two people died and two more were injured.
The investigation into the accident put the main blame on the driver of the first train, who failed to lay out detonators. However, it was also found that the telegraph system used was obviously too primitive to always communicate clearly with it. It was also suggested to install an automatic section block .
See also
literature
- FH Rich: Accident Returns . Ed .: Board of Trade . London 1866, p. 38f.
- Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt : Red for Danger . Edition: London 1978.
Individual evidence
- ^ Rolt: Red for Danger , p. 51.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 39.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rolt: Red for Danger , p. 51.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 39.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rolt: Red for Danger , p. 51; Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 38.
- ^ Rich: Accident Returns , p. 39.
Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 9.6 ″ N , 0 ° 11 ′ 9.6 ″ W.