Date 10 December 1937 Cause Signalman error Injuries 179 Location Castlecary | Country Scotland Total number of deaths 35 Trains 2 | |
Rail line Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line Operator London and North Eastern Railway | ||
Two rail accidents near Castlecary have occurred in Scotland. One of these was in 1937 and one in 1968.
Contents
1937
An accident occurred on the evening of 10 December 1937, at Castlecary in Scotland, in snowy weather conditions. Two trains were involved in a collision on the Edinburgh to Glasgow main line of the LNER, killing 35 people.
Details
In a whiteout at 6pm, the 5.30pm Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street commuter express collided with the late running 4.20pm local train from Dundee Tay Bridge to Glasgow Queen Street. The locomotive, LNER Class A3 no. 2744 Grand Parade, hit the rear of the standing local service in Castlecary station at an estimated 70 mph. This location is confined and the rear four coaches disintegrated completely. The express engine "Grand Parade" was damaged beyond repair, to be replaced by a new engine with the same number and name in April 1938. The engine of the local train, an LNER Class D29 no. 9896 "Dandie Dinmont", was pushed forward 100 yards with the brakes on.
Aftermath
The death toll was 35 (including 7 train crew) and 179 people were hurt, most of them seriously. An eight-year-old girl was counted as missing. Poignantly some locals swore to seeing the ghost of the girl for many years. The driver of the Edinburgh train was committed to court on a charge of culpable homicide (Scottish equivalent of manslaughter) for supposedly driving too fast in the weather conditions, but the charge was dropped. The Inspecting Officer concluded that it was the signalman who was principally at fault for the disaster. This was Britain's worst snow-related rail crash, others of note being Elliot Junction in 1906 and Abbots Ripton in 1876.
Causes
As mentioned above, whiteout conditions applied and visibility was no more than a few yards. The signalmen on this stretch of line were operating Regulation 5e. This means that a double section has to be clear ahead for a train to be signalled to pass the previous box, Greenhill Junction. A set of points ahead had been blocked by snow. The train from Dundee ran past the Castlecary home signal in poor visibility but managed to stop just beyond it. The Castlecary signalman failed to check its whereabouts and allowed the following Edinburgh express into the section. This also ran past the same signal and collided with the Dundee train. It is believed that the Castlecary distant signal had stuck in the 'off' ('clear') position, so the express took it that the line was now clear, it wasn't until he crossed the viaduct that he saw the home signal at 'danger'. Even a modern-day car would not have stopped in the remaining 50 yards to the tail lamp, which was to be flattened.
1968
A second accident occurred in Castlecary on 9 September 1968, also a rear-end collision. A light engine passed a signal at danger after a telephone misunderstanding with the signalman, and collided with a 12-carriage passenger train (consisting of two six-car Class 126 DMUs) waiting at the next signal. The driver and secondman of the light engine (Class 24 diesel locomotive D5122) were killed.