1948 Winsford railway accident

Railway accident in the UK August 2021 Winsford rail accident (1948) Winsford rail incident 2064689 dbe10192.jpg 53.197 -2.499 region:GB-DGY_type:event_scale:50000 inline Winsford rail accident (1948) 17 April 1948 00:27 Winsford railway station, Cheshire England West Coast Main Line British Railways Signaller's error 2 24 10 List of UK rail accidents by year On 17 April 1948, 24 people died when the 17:40 Glasgow to London Euston train hauled by LMS Princess Royal Class 4-6-2 No 6207 Princess Arthur of Connaught was stopped after the communication cord was pulled by a passenger (a soldier on leave who presumably lived near Winsford and was seen to leave the train after it had stopped).Wilson Lt-Col GRS 1948 Railway Accidents: Report on the Collision Which Occurred on the 17th April, 1948, at Winsford in the London Midland Region of British Railways London HMSO for the Ministry of Transport http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Winsford1948.pdf PDF The stopped train was then run into by a following postal express hauled by LMS Coronation Class 4-6-2 No 6251 City of Nottingham.1996 British Railway Disasters Shepperton Ian Allan 0-711-024707 136 The collision happened at between 40 and 45 mph on and was so severe that only five of the ten passenger coaches could be pulled away on their wheels and only the rear eight of the 13 Postal coaches could be pulled back. 24 passengers were killed. The signalman at Winsford had failed to observe whether the passenger train had passed his box and had then, in error, reported the passenger train clear of the section and accepted the postal train. The person who pulled the emergency cord was a railway employee who worked as a signalbox lad in Winsford Junction, but was currently serving in the army having been called up. He thought that the train would be perfectly safe because he knew how the signalling equipment of the time in that area worked; but he did not know that the train had stopped short of the track circuit, which would have given an additional reminder to the signalman of its presence. He attended the enquiry to confess, and was still a signalman in Winsford Junction until he retired in the 1990s.August 2021 References Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Cheshire Category:Railway accidents caused by signaller's error Category:Railway accidents in 1948 Category:1948 disasters in the United Kingdom Category:Accidents and incidents involving British Rail Category:Train collisions in England Category:April 1948 in the United Kingdom Category:1948 in England Category:20th century in Cheshire Category:History of Cheshire