The derailment of a passenger train at

Lytham Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

occurred when the front tyre of the locomotive fractured. The crash caused the loss of 15 lives. The accident happened on 3 November 1924 to the 4.40 pm

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

express travelling to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

at 5.46 pm. When the tyre failed, the train was moving at about , and the train derailed at a crossing, then hit a bridge, closely followed by the Warton signal box. The building was completely demolished and coals from the grate ignited a carriage. The engine toppled over together with two of the carriages.

Investigation

Colonel Pringle of the

Railway Inspectorate Established in 1840, His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) is the organisation responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways and tramways. It was previously a separate non-departmental public body, but from 1990 to April 2006 it ...

found part of the broken tyre away in a field, the left-hand leading wheel of the engine having broken. The tread had broken from a large internal blow hole. The defect probably formed during the steel casting operation, and became critical as the tread was worn away. The tyre had been made in 1920, and had run over before failure. All the other wheels from the same batch were removed from service and broken up, but without finding any cavities in the treads. Pringle also showed how tyre fractures had decreased over the years. In 1880, there were 1238 broken tyres, 577 ten years later and by 1900, the number had dropped to 234. The majority were found on wagons, but by 1920, there were only 20 wheel failures. The drop in failure rate was due to the introduction of the monobloc steel wheel and better inspection and maintenance methods.

References

* Rolt, L.T.C. (1956 (and later editions)). ''Red for Danger''. Bodley Head / David and Charles / Pan Books. * Peter R Lewis and Alistair Nisbet, ''Wheels to Disaster!: The Oxford train wreck of Christmas Eve'', 1874, Tempus (2008)

External links

Pathe newsreel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lytham Rail Crash Railway accidents and incidents in Lancashire Railway accidents in 1924 History of Lancashire 1924 in England Lytham St Annes 1920s in Lancashire Derailments in England 1924 disasters in the United Kingdom November 1924 events

Investigation

See also

References

External links