South Croydon Railway Accident

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The South Croydon railway accident was a rear-end collision between two suburban trains on October 24, 1947 in fog in the southern London borough of Croydon , caused by the illegal intervention of a signalman in the train control . 32 people died.

Starting position

The accident occurred on the four- track Brighton Main Line of the Southern Railway . This approach route to London Bridge station has a very high train frequency. It was equipped with the Sykes security system, "Lock and Block". This came from the last quarter of the 19th century. It ensured security by the fact that - electro-mechanically secured - only two adjacent signal boxes could jointly release the section of the route between them for a train . A passing train set the signal back to the basic position "Halt" by a mechanical device. Because the systems were now around 50 years old and could not be modernized due to the Second World War , there were frequent disruptions. In this case, it was possible to bypass the security system, which was done using a special key. The signal box operator in the last station before the accident scene, Purley Oaks , only had a few weeks of experience working on a signal box and was deployed here despite the high train frequency. Because of the numerous train movements on the four-track line, he had to perform an average of four operations per minute.

The 7:33 train from Haywards Heath to London Bridge consisted of a set of three electric multiple units, each with three cars . These offered a total of around 750 seats. In the morning rush hour , the train had around 1,000 passengers on board. Behind this another train drove in the block distance , from 8:04 am from Tattenham Corner . This train consisted of 4 electric multiple units each with two vehicles with 536 seats, but was also occupied by around 800 passengers. The trains were built in 1932 and had wooden superstructures.

There was thick fog that morning, reducing visibility to around 20–150 meters.

the accident

The first train was stopped in Purley Oaks in front of the exit signal because the following station, South Croydon, could not yet accept it due to incoming trains from branch lines. The Purley Oaks signal box operator completely forgot about him in the hustle and bustle. He couldn't see it because of the fog. So the train waited about six or seven minutes before the signal closed. Even when the signal box was offered the second train from Tattenham Corner, the signal box employee no longer thought of the waiting train. Rather, he wanted to allow the second train to enter the station: The entrance signal could not be pulled, because the first train was still in the station. The signal box employee believed there was a malfunction in the train protection system, picked up the key, manually unlocked the entry signal and pulled it to "Drive free". He also set the exit signal for the second train to "free travel". Of course , the driver of the first train referred that to himself. He drove off, blocking the exit signal for Purley Oaks station that was now behind him.

The signal box employee wanted to ensure that the second train could continue its journey quickly, but found that the exit signal had meanwhile shown "stop" again. And it could not be set to "run free" again, because the first train was in the section of the route that was secured by this signal. The signal box employee felt confirmed in his assumption that there was a malfunction in the train protection system, bridged this alleged malfunction with the key and set the signal to "clear travel" again. The second train drove unhindered through Purley Oaks station and into the following section at about 70 km / h.

The first train was informed by the distant signal to the entrance signal of the South Croydon station "Waiting for stop". The driver braked. When he recognized the main signal , it said "drive free". He began to accelerate again, but had reached a maximum speed of 25 km / h when at 8:37 a.m. the next train hit him from behind. It was then no longer possible to determine whether the driver's driver could still brake. The vehicle was so badly damaged that it was no longer possible to determine it. The leading vehicle of the rear train slid under the last of the front. This shaved off the superstructures of the approaching vehicle. The last car of the train in front overturned and blocked the track in the opposite direction. The end of the vehicle in front was also destroyed. About 200 people were in the two mainly affected wagons at the end of the front train and the head of the following train.

consequences

32 people died mainly in these two cars, including the driver of the approaching train. 40 people were also seriously injured, 141 slightly injured. The other vehicles on the two trains were only slightly damaged. This was the worst accident that ever happened on the Southern Railway.

The first ambulance arrived at the scene of the accident just three minutes after the collision.

Accident of 1854

On August 21, 1854, a railway accident occurred in Croydon station . Back then, the track was driven with a time lag. This meant that after a train had left a station on the free route, the next one was only allowed to follow it after a set time. If a train got stuck, someone had to be sent towards the next train to signal that the line was still occupied. On that day, an excursion train from Dover was on its way to Crystal Palace station with day trippers who wanted to visit Crystal Palace in London . The train was so overstaffed that it had to be split at Ashton Station . After the first part of the train had passed in Croyden station, a steam locomotive drove onto the through track, as there was a water crane there to collect water without securing this train movement to the rear on the through track. Since the place was very confusing, the following, second part of the excursion train drove into the locomotive with water. The locomotive of the excursion train and the baggage car following it derailed and were carried out of the curve. The following cars pushed into one another. Three people died and 11 others were injured, some seriously.

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. Schneider / Masé, p. 141, speak of 31 dead. This was the number of people who died directly at the scene of the accident. A seriously injured person later died in hospital.

Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 40.2 "  N , 0 ° 5 ′ 36.6"  W.

  1. HW Tyler: Report on the collision of an excursion train with a light engine at Croydon in 1854 BC September 14, 1854, Ed .: Board of Trade .