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The Winwick rail crash took place at Winwick Junction, near
Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
on the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
, on 28 September 1934. Two trains collided, resulting in 11 deaths and 19 injured.


Background

Although the signalman on duty was ultimately responsible for the collision, there were several contributing factors. The layout of the section was complex, with four running lines and a junction between the main Warrington-Preston line and the Warrington-Earlestown
branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
. Those two lines carried so much traffic that the signalman had a booking lad with him in the
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 ...
, whose function was to keep the train register and use it to remind the signalman of the position of trains within the section at any time.


Sequence of events

Shortly after 9pm a local train from Warrington, destined for Wigan and drawn by 2-4-2 tank engine No. 6632, entered the section. It was due to be turned off onto the Earlestown branch line, but Signalman Bloor at the Winwick Junction signal box was already busy with no fewer than seven other trains, and probably engaged on the telephone to Warrington, discussing a necessary change to the running order to cater for an express freight train carrying perishable goods (fish). The local train therefore came to a halt at the Winwick Junction home signals, and Fireman Hayes left the train to walk to the signal box away to carry out Rule 55, by which he was to remind the signalman of the train's presence and ensure that it was protected. Before Hayes could reach the signal box, the signalman at Winwick Quay to the south rang ''Call attention'' for an express train from Euston to
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
. As the regulations did not permit him to send the ''Is Line Clear?'' bell signal until he had received ''Train Out of Section'' for the local train, he intended to send the bell signal ''Shunt engine for following train to pass'' upon acknowledgment of ''Call attention'', i.e. he expected Bloor to switch the local train temporarily to another running line and halt it while the express passed. However, Bloor forgot that the local train was standing at his signals, and thought that he had failed to clear his block instruments after a preceding train. He gave the reply, ''Train out of section'' and cleared his signals. The booking lad, E. Derbyshire, who was supposed to alert him to the position of the train, failed to do so. He too had been distracted by a telephone call about a weekly timetable change, and on hearing Bloor exclaim "Good Heavens! I haven't given the 2-1 .e. the ''train out of section'' callhere yet", he assumed that he himself had missed the passage of the local train. Instead of prompting Bloor that the train register entries for the local train were incomplete, which might have alerted Bloor in time to avert the collision, he used guesswork to fill in the register, indicating the local train was out of the section. When the Winwick Junction home signals cleared, Driver Hope of the local began moving forward slowly to pick up the fireman, but was struck by the express, drawn by LNWR Prince of Wales Class No. 25648, running at high speed. The rearmost coach of the local train was demolished and first two of the express train were badly telescoped. The guard and five passengers in the local train, and three passengers in the express train were killed. Two passengers (it is not known from which train) later died in hospital.


Aftermath

Signalman Bloor readily admitted his responsibility, but the booking lad's assumption about train movement led the Inspecting Officer (Colonel A.C. Trench) to recommend that booking lads should be made more aware that entries other than from personal knowledge should be verified with the signalman. The lack of a telephone at the signal post, or a
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 ...
which would have alerted the signalman that the track was occupied and prevented him accepting the express, was also a factor. The Inspecting Officer's report recommended that track circuits be installed at the junction.


1967 accident

Another accident occurred at Winwick Junction in 1967. A passenger DMU collided with a goods train after failing to stop at a semaphore signal which, although "on", had jammed at approximately 17° to the horizontal. There were no fatalities or serious injuries. The official inquiry concluded that routine maintenance of the signal had been inadequate, and the signalman was at fault for not checking that the signal had properly returned to "Danger" when the lever was replaced. A similar accident, with much more serious consequences, occurred at
Invergowrie Invergowrie () is a village on the northwest bank of the Firth of Tay to the west of Dundee. Historically part of Perthshire, it was formerly incorporated as part of the city of Dundee, but is now administered as part of Perth and Kinross. H ...
in 1979.


Similar accidents

* Hawes Junction rail crash (1910) * Quintinshill rail crash (1915) * Norton Fitzwarren rail crash (1890)


See also

* List of British rail accidents


References


External links


British Pathé News report
{{coord , 53, 25, 49, N, 2, 37, 13, W, type:event_region:GB-WRT, display=title Railway accidents and incidents in Cheshire Accidents and incidents involving London, Midland and Scottish Railway History of Warrington Railway accidents in 1934 1934 in England 20th century in Cheshire 1934 disasters in the United Kingdom September 1934 in the United Kingdom Railway accidents caused by signaller's error