The Seer Green rail crash occurred on the morning of 11 December 1981 near Seer Green,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between two four-car Class 115 diesel multiple units, killing one driver and three passengers.

Events

In the

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

of 1981, the

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

in Southern England turned cold and there were frequent heavy falls of

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

. On the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham (Birmingham Moor Street railway station, Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, Snow Hill) on a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington ...

, the snow caused tree branches in the cutting at Seer Green to be weighed down and some of them were brushed by passing trains. On 11 December, the driver of an empty train from

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

Princes Risborough Princes Risborough () is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England; it is located about south of Aylesbury and northwest of High Wycombe. It lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, at the north end of a gap or pass through ...

came across a fallen branch lying across the track. He telephoned the signalman at

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

to tell him that he was going to clear the obstruction and would be delayed by a few minutes. Meanwhile, at

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of Chalfont St Peter and a short distance west of the London Borough of Hillingdon, from which it is separated by the parish of Denham, Buckinghams ...

, behind the stationary train, the driver of the 07:31 from Marylebone to

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

was being cautioned by the signalman about the overhanging branches. The signalman then attempted to clear the starting signal for the train to proceed but the lever was locked. Unaware that the empty train had stopped, he looked at his

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

diagram and thought that the indications showed that the empty train was running towards

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

. Assuming that the signal lever had frozen (when in fact it was electrically locked by the stationary train), he authorised the driver to pass the signal at danger, and the train set off into the still-falling snow. Glancing again at his diagram, he saw that the lights towards Beaconsfield were not in fact lit, and realised that the empty train was still in the section near Seer Green. He quickly went to the window and tried to attract the driver's attention by shouting, but nobody heard him. The driver of the Banbury train drove too fast for the conditions and ran into the back of the empty train at about 30 mph. The front coach of the Banbury train partly telescoped underneath the rear coach of the empty train, and the driver and three passengers were killed. Five others were also injured.

Investigation

At the public inquiry, Inspecting Officer

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

C.F. Rose held the signalman at Gerrards Cross chiefly to blame, although he did note that the signalman had only been qualified for a month and had been appointed through a jobcentre because nobody could be recruited internally. In addition to his inexperience, the signalling between Gerrards Cross and High Wycombe was unusually complex, with several

track circuit A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on a block of rail tracks to control railway signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind the t ...

block sections and intermediate block sections. The signal box diagram was subsequently altered to make its indications less ambiguous. The driver of the Banbury train also shared some responsibility, because he drove too fast to be able to stop short of the stationary train. Although

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

's rules stated that the guard of the empty train should have applied

detonator A detonator is a device used to make an explosive or explosive device explode. Detonators come in a variety of types, depending on how they are initiated (chemically, mechanically, or electrically) and details of their inner working, which of ...

protection, this would have been unreasonable given that the obstruction would have been cleared in a few minutes.

References

* {{Transport in Buckinghamshire 1981 in England Railway accidents in 1981 1981 disasters in the United Kingdom December 1981 in the United Kingdom 1980s in Buckinghamshire Railway accidents and incidents in Buckinghamshire Train collisions in England Railway accidents caused by signaller's error