Harrow & Wealdstone Rail Crash
At 8.19 am on 8th October 1952, a multiple collision occurred at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London. Three trains were involved, each carrying multiple carriages. 112 people died and 340 others were hospitalized through injury in the worst rail crash the United Kingdom had seen outside of wartime.
Collisions
The 7.51 am train from Tring to Euston, a steam locomotive with 9 carriages carrying 800 passengers, stopped at Harrow & Wealdstone approximately seven minutes late, due to heavy fog. Due to the service following this one being cancelled, the early train was far busier than normal.
Just before the station guard reached the brake van after checking the doors on the last carriage, the train was struck from behind by the 8.15 pm night train from Perth, Scotland, a locomotive hauling 11 carriages carrying 85 passengers. The night express train was about 80 minutes late, roaring along the line at 50-60 miles per hour and had already passed through one light signal showing caution and two semaphore signals showing extreme danger.
A few seconds after the collision, the 8 am express train from Euston to Liverpool & Manchester, consisting of two locomotives hauling 15 carriages carrying 200 passengers, came in to the station at 60 miles per hour on the adjacent fast line. The lead locomotive struck the Perth and derailed. In all, 16 carriages were destroyed, at least 13 of which compressed in to a space under the footbridge. 112 people died, including the drivers of the Perth and leading locomotive of the Liverpool / Manchester trains.
Aftermath / Legacy
The first emergency response arrived at the station at 8.22 am. Fire, ambulance and police rescue teams were assisted by doctors and a medical unit deployed by the U.S. Air Force, with additional help coming from volunteers of the Salvation Army and Women's Voluntary Service. The first ambulance left at 8.27 am, with rescue operations continuing until 12.15 pm. Searches for survivors then went on until 1.30 am the following morning.
The Ministry of Transport published a report in to the incident in June 1953. It found that the signalman had failed to change the route after the Perth train had passed through the caution warning and that the driver of the Perth failed to recognise the three warnings before colliding with the Tring train. The report also praised the manufacturing of British trains, as the new standard steel made coaches survived much better than wooden / steel hybrid coaches.
The accident quickened the process of the Automatic Warning System being put in to place by British Rail. By 1977, a third of all British Rail services had been fitted with the AWS. After the accident there was criticism about the track layout, with the Tring train having been forced to wait on the fast line because the junction between slow and fast lines was situated to the North side of the station. The junction was changed at the station in 1962.
In 2002, a memorial plaque was unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the accident. Children from local schools painted a mural featuring events in Wealdstone's history - this was displayed at the side of the bordering road and dedicated to the memory of the victims.
Wikipedia links for further reading below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_and_...rail_crash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Warning_System