The 1941 Eccles rail crash occurred on 30 December 1941 at the east end of

Eccles railway station Eccles railway station serves the town of Eccles, Greater Manchester, England. It was opened on 15 September 1830 by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M). Location The station is next to the M602 motorway and is 300 metres north of Eccle ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England.

Events

A westbound train passed danger signals in fog in the wartime blackout and collided at about 30 mph with an eastbound train traversing a crossover. A major contributory cause was that the signalman had erroneously suspended "fog working", which would give greater distances between trains, due to a misunderstanding about whether fogmen were on duty. The fog was worsened by the nearby

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

and visibility was as low as 10 yards.

Inquiry

An inquiry into the accident was opened on 7 January 1942. At the conclusion of the Inquiry the Ministry of Transport Inspector blamed the signalman for the accident. The Rochdale train should not have been permitted to go towards the occupied junction, which was caused by the signalman not observing the block regulations and a confusion over which fogmen were on duty. The driver was also held partly to blame for his speed in low visibility conditions which would not allow him to observe the signals. The Inspector also noted that if the trains had been fitted with an automatic train control system, which had been recently trialled by the LMS in the London area, it would have prevented the collision in the fog.

Victims

Initial reports were at least 15 people were killed and 100 injured; some later died in hospital and a total of 23 people were killed and 57 had serious injuries.

Notes

References

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