Altenbeken railway accident
The railway accident in Altenbeken on December 20, 1901 was a rear-end collision in front of Altenbeken station , in which twelve people died.
Starting position
From the west there is an incline in the Hamm – Warburg railway line before Altenbeken , which required a second locomotive for heavy trains . The track was equipped with a track block. The D 31 was on its way from Cologne to Berlin on this route . The train received a push- pull locomotive as reinforcement . The P 399 followed him according to the schedule .
the accident
On the track was a horse that had run away from a farmer and into which the D 31 drove. The engine driver braked immediately and brought the train to a stop. This came to a halt immediately in front of the guard's house at the Schierenberg block . The crew of the express train was now busy for about a quarter of an hour removing the horse's carcass from the rods of the steam locomotive . The sliding locomotive set back a few meters to give the front locomotive maneuverability to the rear.
During this time, the block attendant from the rear Keimberg block area asked the block attendant, in front of whose block area this was happening, whether he could not clear the section between them because the P 399 was close.
After the horse carcass was cleared to the side, the train driver of the express train gave the order to leave. The block attendant in Schierenberg saw this and set the signal to be operated by him , which the express train had not yet fully passed, back to "Stop" and released the block section by means of an early operator action on the block. This made it possible for the block attendant in Keimberg to pull the signal that secured the section to the rear to "clear the road", which he did. The P 399 - also in double traction - could continue without braking and into the block section that was still occupied by the express train.
The onward journey of the express train was delayed because the drivers of the pulling and pushing locomotives of the express train needed some time to communicate. The rear locomotive had just pulled up to the train again when the P 399 turned an unclear bend. Its staff therefore recognized the danger too late and could no longer prevent the rear-end collision. It jumped off the locomotive, as did the staff of the pushing locomotive. All railway workers could save themselves this way. The express train's sliding locomotive received a violent bump and smashed the last passenger car on the express train.
consequences
12 people died and 27 were injured.
literature
- Werner Menninghaus and Günter Krause: The Royal Westphalian Railway - History of the Warburg - Hamm - Emden line . Lübbecke 1985. ISBN 3-922657-40-0
- Hans Joachim Ritzau: Railway disasters in Germany. Splinters of German history . Vol. 1: Landsberg-Pürgen 1979, pp. 89f.
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 51 ° 45 '18.9 " N , 8 ° 54' 8.8" E