The Stairfoot rail accident was a railway accident that took place at

Stairfoot Stairfoot is a Ward (electoral subdivision), ward in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. It is perhaps so named because it lies at the bottom of a valley in between the undulations of two small hills on the old road from Barnsley to Doncaster. St ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England.

Details of accident

On 12 December 1870, in Barnsley top yard a rake of 10 goods wagons was standing on a gradient of 1 in 119. A single

sprag A sprag clutch is a one-way freewheel clutch. It resembles a roller bearing but, instead of cylindrical rollers, non-revolving asymmetric figure-eight shaped sprags, or other elements allowing single direction rotation, are used. When the unit ...

between the spokes of a wheel was holding them. When two gas tank wagons were shunted against the rake, the sprag broke and the 12 wagons began to move. Two pointsmen made valiant efforts to pin down the brakes to no avail. The wagons rapidly gathered speed as the gradient increased to 1 in 72 and passed three signal boxes, none of which had points under their control to deflect the runaways. Meanwhile, a passenger train which had left

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

at 18:15 was standing at Stairfoot station one and a half miles away. The runaways struck the rear of the standing train at a speed of at least 40 mph, killing 15 and injuring 59 more. The enquiry by Lieut-Col F. H. Rich found that the goods guard was gravely at fault for not ensuring the standing wagons were better secured. The layout of the yard was also criticized as there were no trap points to protect the running lines in the event of such a mishap.

Similar accidents

Abergele rail disaster The Abergele rail disaster, which took place near Abergele, North Wales, in August 1868, was the worst railway disaster in Great Britain up till then. The Irish Mail train was on its way from London to Holyhead, when a complicated shunting ope ...

(1868)

References

Sources

External links

Full report of Enquiry into Accident at Stairfoot on 12 December 1870
{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1815–1899, state=collapsed History of Barnsley Railway accidents and incidents in Yorkshire Railway accidents in 1870 Runaway train disasters 1870 in England Rail transport in South Yorkshire History of South Yorkshire 19th century in Yorkshire Accidents and incidents involving Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway December 1870 events Train collisions in England 1870 disasters in the United Kingdom