Sutton Railroad Accident
The railway accident in Sutton was the collision of a special train on two others in Sutton tunnel broken-down trains on April 30, 1851. Nine people died.
Starting position
The double-track railway line between Chester and Warrington (now part of the Chester – Manchester railway line ) was only opened on December 18, 1850 by the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Chesire Junction Railway (BLCJR). At that time it was driven at a time interval. This meant that after a train had left a station on the route , the next train was allowed to follow it after a set time - a minimum distance of 5 minutes was required on this route. If a train got stuck, someone had to be sent towards the next train to signal that the line was still occupied. The route goes under Brookvale , a district of Halton , Cheshire , England , with the approximately 1800 m long Sutton Tunnel.
The route was the shortest route between Chester and Manchester . It was very busy that day as the Tradesmen's Plate , a horse race , was taking place in Chester . Thousands of people had traveled the route that morning, which had already caused considerable problems for the railway . The railway was dependent on borrowing wagons from neighboring railway companies , which in some cases happened at short notice, so that their technical condition was no longer checked. The Chester Station had on normal days about 2,000 travelers on that day but 18,000.
At the end of the race, the return traffic started and the trains drove in close succession. 4,000 travelers wanted to go back to Manchester. A total of eight special trains were supposed to handle the traffic on the BLCJR route. After a first train left Chester at 5:45 p.m., a second followed at 6:30 p.m. with around 430 passengers. Meanwhile, about 5,000 passengers were in the terminal station in Chester . On a track in Chester station, which lay between two platform tracks and was used to move locomotives, was another, empty train, which was labeled "Chester-Manchester". When the departing train revealed this train, the travelers stormed it without being able to drive it to a platform at all . Ultimately, 912 travelers crowded into 18 passenger cars - at the time relatively small, two- and three-axle vehicles . There were two cars of the first class , six coaches of the 2nd class. And 10 open wagons of third class. There were an average of 70 passengers in 3rd class cars - these vehicles did not have seats. Pulled by the “DRUID” locomotive , the overloaded train drove straight onto the line at 6:50 p.m. without being shunted to the platform again. Because of an incline on the exit from Chester station, locomotive No. 16 push in. When the train had overcome the incline, she drove back to take over another train of her own.
the accident
The suspension of the completely overloaded wagons of the "DRUID" train could no longer hold their weight, so that the wheel tires came into contact with the car bodies and these acted like brakes , which was only established afterwards through tests. In addition, it started to rain . The relatively light locomotive "DRUID" had considerable problems on the following gradients of the route: To prevent its wheels from spinning, two railway workers ran alongside the locomotive and sanded the tracks. The train only drove at less than 10 km / h. The Sutton Tunnel was also uphill. Shortly before he reached the tunnel, the following, lighter train caught up with him, which had left Chester around 7:15 p.m. and was also driven by the more powerful locomotive No. 16 was drawn. The brakeman on the penultimate car of the train pulled by the "DRUID" and the engine driver of No. 16 agreed that locomotive No. 16 should drive onto the train of the "DRUID" and push it with him, which also happened, but meant that both trains now came to a standstill in the tunnel.
Behind the locomotive No. 16 pulled train was followed by another, which left Chester at 7:30 p.m., pulled by the locomotive "ALBERT" with about 470 passengers. Their engine driver noticed a lot of smoke oozing out of the tunnel, but attributed it to the large number of trains that had entered the tunnel in the past hour. He drove into the smoke without seeing anything, and shortly after 8 p.m. on the last car of the locomotive No. 16 pulled train.
consequences
Five travelers died immediately in the rear-end collision, and four others later succumbed to their injuries. In addition, more than 50 people were injured. Around 1,600 passengers were in absolute darkness in the trains involved in the accident in the tunnel - because the carriages did not have lighting. The last wagons of the "DRUID" train were smashed, locomotive No. 16 and more wagons derailed .
Only after the rear-end collision did a railroad worker walk with a red signal lamp onto the route behind the trains and at least stop the next train.
Since many travelers now left the train and tried to get out of the tunnel on foot, the train in front became so much lighter that the "DRUID" could now drive it out of the tunnel on its own. No. 16 followed with the wagons of their train that were not destroyed or derailed.
As a result of the accident, train stations were built on both sides of the tunnel in order to better control the traffic through the tunnel. The stations were already included in the original planning, but were not initially built for cost reasons. To the west it was Runcorn Station , later renamed Runcorn Road and finally called Halton before it closed in 1952. At the east end of the tunnel was the Norton , which was replaced today by the Runcorn East stop, which had been moved a few hundred meters .
See also
literature
- Wm. R. Hawkin: Sutton Tunnel Railway Accident . Frodsham and District Local History Group 1987.
- Captain of the Pioneers RM Laffan: Report of the Officer Appointed by the Commissioners of Railways to inquire into the Circumstances attending a Fatal Collision which occurred in the Sutton Tunnel, on the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Chesire Junction Railway, on the 30th Day of April 1851 v. May 22, 1851 [accident report]
Web links
- NN: Disaster on the Chester Cup Excursion, 1851 . In: Cheshire Magazine.
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 12.7 " N , 2 ° 40 ′ 40.4" W.