The Norton Fitzwarren rail crash occurred on 11 November 1890, at

Norton Fitzwarren station Norton Fitzwarren railway station is an untimetabled station on the West Somerset Railway in Somerset, England. It was built in 2009 about north of the site of the old (Norton Fitzwarren) station that served the village of Norton Fitzwarren fro ...

on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, approximately two miles south-west of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. A special

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat trains ...

carrying passengers from

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

collided with a goods train that was being shunted on the main line. Ten passengers were killed, and eleven people (including the driver and fireman of the special train) were seriously injured. Another significant accident occurred at Norton Fitzwarren in 1940.

Sequence of events

The incident began at 12:36 am, when a down goods train from Bristol to Exeter, hauled by both a standard-gauge engine and a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

pilot engine In railroad terminology, double heading indicates the use of two locomotives at the front of a train, each operated individually by its own crew. The practice of triple-heading involves the use of three locomotives. The practice of multi-headi ...

, arrived at Norton Fitzwarren to take on and put off stock. Another down goods train, which was not scheduled to stop at the station, was due at 1:17 am, and at 1:05 am the guard of the first goods train was told by the signalman to shunt his train clear of the down line, on to the up main, while the pilot engine was separately moved on to a branch line. After the fast goods train had passed, the signalman moved the pilot engine back to the down main line - while this movement was taking place, at 1:23 am, the up boat train was offered to the signalman by the preceding signal box. Forgetting that the slow goods train was still on the up main line, the signalman accepted the boat train, and cleared his signals for it. At 1:24 am, with full steam on at a speed estimated at 50 mph, the boat train passed the signal box and ran into the goods train. The driver and fireman of the goods train managed to jump clear before the accident, but were unable to give any signal in the short time they had. The guard of the boat train did not recall any braking before the impact.

Causes

The immediate cause of the accident was that the signalman had forgotten that the goods train was still on the main line after being shunted and allowed the boat train into his section with the line obstructed. The Board of Trade enquiry ruled that a contributory factor was the premature change of the goods train's headlamp from red to green; it was possible that the driver of the boat train would have noticed a red lamp ahead of him in time to apply his brakes. Another contributory factor was the failure of the guard of the goods train to notify the signalman of the presence of his train on the main line, as required by the rules of the company. Following the inquest, twelve refuge sidings were built between Exeter and Weston.

References

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External links

Crash report and photos
at John Speller's web pages - GWR Broad Gauge - B&ER {{coord, 51, 01, N, 3, 08, W, display=title Railway accidents and incidents in Somerset Railway accidents in 1890 Accidents and incidents involving Great Western Railway 1890 in England 19th century in Somerset Train collisions in England Norton Fitzwarren Railway accidents caused by signaller's error 1890 disasters in the United Kingdom

Sequence of events

Causes

See also

References

Similar accidents

External links