The Elliot Junction rail accident occurred on 28 December 1906 at Elliot Junction in Forfarshire (now Angus), Scotland. An express hit the rear of a local passenger train, which was just moving off from the station, killing 22 and injuring 24. The immediate cause was driver error, but a snow blizzard had disrupted services, and the driver received only a light sentence.

Background

The accident happened during a severe blizzard on 28 December 1906 at Elliot Junction station in

Forfarshire Angus (; ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agriculture and fishing. Global pharmaceuticals ...

, Scotland. Now shut, this was situated between the present-day stations of

Carnoustie Carnoustie (; ) is a town and former police burgh in the subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the UK census 2011, 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of ...

and

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

, being closest to the latter, one and a half miles away. In terms of lives lost, the accident was the 10th worst in British railway history up until that point, with 22 fatalities. An additional 8 persons were severely hurt and 16 received minor injuries. The official inquiry found the driver of one of the trains involved, named Gourlay, to be largely responsible for the tragedy. He was subsequently convicted of

culpable homicide Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the homicide (illegal killing of a person) either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a pa ...

and sentenced to 5 months in prison, later reduced to a term of 3 months. The relatively light sentence reflected the opinion of the jury that other factors had played an equal, if not more important role in the accident. Whilst not completely exonerating the driver, a more recent analysis drew attention to the

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

and highlighted a number of organizational failures which contributed to the disaster.

The Accident

At around 3.30 p.m., a

North British Railway The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...

express hit the rear of a local

Dundee and Arbroath Railway The Dundee and Arbroath Railway was an early railway in Scotland. It opened in 1838, and used the unusual track gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). In 1848 it changed to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish railway networ ...

passenger train, which had just stopped at Elliott Junction and was beginning to move off. Having left King's Cross, London at 11.30pm the previous day, the express departed

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley (also known simply as Edinburgh; ) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. The station serves as the northern terminus of the East C ...

for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

at 7.35 a.m., but due to heavy snowfall over the previous two days had been unable to progress further than Arbroath, where it was due at 9.40am. At the time of the crash it was heading back to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

with passengers still on board. Among the casualties was the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Member of Parliament (MP) Alexander William Black, who was severely injured in the crash and died shortly thereafter.

The Inquiry

The

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

Inquiry placed primary responsibility on the driver of one of the trains who had "failed to heed instructions to drive with caution".http://danger-ahead.railfan.net/gallery/elliot_jct.html Gallery – Elliot Junction 1906 It also discussed the role of alcohol and said that "the proximity of the Victoria Bar to the up platform is a very undesirable feature in the surroundings of

station. The substitution of a coffee shop and refreshment room would be greatly in the general interests of the staff".

Notes

References

External links

Image of local train carriage after the express had run into the back of it
{{coord, 56, 32, 47, N, 2, 37, 01, W, type:event_region:GB, display=title Train collisions in Scotland Transport in Angus, Scotland 1906 in Scotland Railway accidents in 1906 History of Angus, Scotland Accidents and incidents involving Dundee and Arbroath Railway Accidents and incidents involving North British Railway 1906 disasters in the United Kingdom December 1906 in the United Kingdom Rail accidents caused by a driver's error