TWENTY YEARS AGO

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12598, 6 July 1935, Page 9

TWENTY YEARS AGO

BRITAIN’S WORST RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

GRETNA TRAIN SMASH. Jt is Just 20 years, writes “Chats-* worth,” the widely-known historian of the war, since there occurred the train smash the appalling deathli-roll of which, numbering 227, made it the worst accident in the "history of British railways, and one of the worst in the world. The censorship in force during the war prevented the newspapers from making any reference to the disaster at the time, and very little has appeared since. Yet the tragodv was poignant, since it involved the death of many gallant youngsters who, their months of training and preparation ended, were at last going out to take tlieir part in the Great War.

Death lurked somewhere in the uncertain future, but none of the Seventh Battalion of the Boyal Scot-s realised that death rode with him in the train which left Larbert, in Scotland, iri the early hours of May 22, 1915. The battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel W. C. Peebles, was on its way to Liverpool, where it was to take ship for the Dardanelles. Two trains were required to transport the men. The first left some two hours in advance of the second. Tho first train had on board the colonel and headquarters staff, together with "A” and “D” companies: in all, 498 officers and men.

! Priority was given to this troopi train, and it made good time on the 1 run south. In the crowded carriages the excited young soldiers, most of whom had never before been out of ' their native Scotland, eagerly speculated on their destination and the j prospects of a speedy and safe re- ; turn. Shortly before G. 40 p.m. the ' train was nearly at Quentin’s Hill Junction, near Gretna. At the same time the Euston-Glasgow night ex- .• press was rapidly approaching the j junction, and a local train was trav- ■ elling north. The custom was to j switch this locAl train on to the up | track at Quentin’s Hill to leave the j way clear for the expressl This pro- ! cedure was followed ou this particular i _ | morniug; but the signalman forgot the special troop train. Speeding I round a. curve, it crashed with terri- ; fie force into the local train.

Leaving the rails, the troop-train I rocked along the sleeper*, pitching the crushed and torn bodies of soldiers on to the permanent-way. Ultimately it turned over on tin* down. , track, a- mass of twisted steel and ' splintered woodwork. A few seconds later horror was added to horror. At 50 miles an hour, the Glasgow express hurled itself into the wreckage. The weight and impetus of the train carried it for some distance through the splintered coaches lying on the track. Then it. too. j overturned. Fire broke out. Franticallv the survivors of the three

trains, aided by people who had hurried to the scene, fought to extricate the dead and injured from the blazing debris, the injured being rushed in motor-cars to Carlisle, where every available hospital bed was being prepared. Of the men in the trooj>-i rain three officers and 211 of other ranks were killed. In all, 220 officers and men were injured. The express and local train contributed 13 dead and 30 injured to the long list of casualties. Many of the dead were bunted so badly that identification was impossible. In the hospitals at Carlisle the injured received, among others, messages of sympathy from the King and Queen —then, as always, foremost in kindly thoughts for all in trouble. The second troop-train, with “B” and “C” companies, proceeded by adifferent route to. Liverpool, where these men were joined by survivors of the smash. The War Office, however, decided that the men, after their terrible experience, were not fit to travel overseas, and they were sent back to Scotland and were given leave in order to recover from the shock. The second half-battalion, with six officers, who had survived the accident, sailed in the Empress of Britain the -following day. A Board of Trade inquiry was held in order to ascertain the cause of the accident. It found that it was due to the negligence of two signalmen, one of whom admitted that he had completely forgotten the local train when he signalled a dear road for the troop-train. Both men stood their trial on a charge of culpable homicide, were found guilty, and were sentenced, one to penal servitude for three years, and the other to imprisonment for 18 months. A memorial was erected in the Rosebank Cemetery, Leith, in memory of the men of the Royal Scots who lost their lives in the disaster.