The Paisley Gilmour Street rail accident occurred on 16 April 1979 at 19:50. The 19:40 Inverclyde Line service from Glasgow Central to

Wemyss Bay Wemyss Bay (; ) is a town on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the traditional county of Renfrewshire. It is adjacent to Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire. The town and villages have always ...

, operated by two Class 303 trains, crossed from the Down Fast Line to the Down Gourock Line under clear signals at Wallneuk Junction immediately to the east of

Paisley Gilmour Street railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = 2012 at Paisley Gilmour Street station - main entrance.jpg , caption = Paisley Gilmour Street from County Square , borough = Paisley, R ...

. It collided head-on with the 18:58 Ayrshire Coast Line special service from

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

to Glasgow Central, formed of two Class 126 diesel multiple units, which had left Platform 2 against a red signal P31.

Factors

The DMU had started away from the platform against a red signal. A type of SASSPADEC Professional Driving Policy:Glossary - "Starting against signal SPAD"
(starting against signal at danger) accident, also colloquially known as

ding-ding, and away Ding-ding, and away is a slang expression used by the UK media and railway enthusiasts to describe a type of operating incident in the British railway industry where the guard of a train standing at a platform gives a "ready to start" bell code t ...

. This accident prompted

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

to change the Rules so that the bell or "Right Away" signal is only given when the Starting signal has been cleared.Hall (1999). Chapter 6: Hidden Dangers: Single Lead Junctions Both drivers and five passengers were killed. 67 passengers and the guard of the Class 303 were injured and were taken to

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

.DoT Official Accident Report. Only three of these remained in hospital.

Aftermath

Immediately after the accident the power was turned off on the Inverclyde Line; and a bus service substituted between Paisley St James and Paisley Gilmour Street station. Some trains were trapped west of Paisley St James, after a few hours a limited train service ran between Paisley St James and Gourock. The Wemyss Bay line was closed. The Ayrshire Coast services were diverted onto the Paisley Canal Line, which at that time was running services from Glasgow Central station to

Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley, southeast of Greenock and aroun ...

, rejoining the Ayrshire Coast Line at Elderslie junction. Both lines were handed back for normal operations at 23:00 on 17 April.

References

Notes

Sources

* * Hall, Stanley (1999). ''Hidden Dangers: Railway Safety in the Era of Privatisation''. Shepperton: Ian Allan. .

External links