THE TRAIN SMASH

Southland Times, Issue 19394, 7 November 1924, Page 5

THE TRAIN SMASH

TERRIBLE SCENES OF AGONY. A TREMENDOUS IMPACT. (Reuter’s Telegrams,) LONDON, Novemoer 4. The train which was wrecked yesterday at Lytham, between Blackpool and Liverpool, was the afternoon business people’s express. The engine dashed into the signalbox with such force that it turned round and faced the train, which consisted of five coaches, of which four overturned. The last caught fire and the second stood up on end. In all 12 were killed and 33 injured. The scene of the catastrophe was appalling. Bloodstained limbs could be seen beneath the carriages, and the cries of the injured were most distressing. Three of the injured in hospital are in a serious condition. According to a Liverpool message, the disaster was due to a tyre coming off the front wheel. The night was very dark, though thousands of helpers and hundreds of motorcars rushed to the scene of the disaster. Those killed included the driver, whose body took some time to find; also Captain Charles Greame, commander of the White Star liner Bardic. Many were terribly injured. One man was decapitated, and another was obliged to have a leg amputated. The signal-box was smashed to smithereens and the signal man hurled into a brook below. He escaped uninjured. Commander Greame was most courageous, and insisted on other sufferers being attended to before himself.