SCOTTISH EXPRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 67, 20 March 1931, Page 7

SCOTTISH EXPRESS

CARLISLE DISASTER | DRIVER TO STAND TRIAL | VERDICT AT INQUEST United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Eeeeived 20th March, 10 a.m.) LONDON, 19th March. | After hearing evidence in the | inquiry into the Scottish express ' disaster on 3rd January, near Carlisle, as to whether the train was driven at an excessive speed, the Coroner's jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against the driver, John Eskdale, who was committed for trial.

On 3rd January a crowded noon express from Edinburgh to London met with disaster one mile north of Carlisle.! The engine and three coaches were derailed. Three persons wore killed and twenty-six injured. Tour lines were : blocked by the wreckage. . _ ! According to witnesses the engine leaped the rails at a sharp curve, burying its nose in the loose, stones of an embankment. The first two coaches crashed into the tender and telescoped. The bodies of two men and a woman were recovered from the wreckage with the aid of doctors, nurses, and hundreds of helpers. Both lines were blocked, necessitating a diversion of traffic. Soldiers from the garrison playing a cup tie in. the adjacent field, accom-1 panicd by the spectators, participated j in the rescues. j

It was believed at the time that frost on tho rails caused the engine to leavo the track. According to a spectator it "absolutely jumped into the air."