The Wrawby Junction rail crash was a
train crash
A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acci ...
which occurred on 9 December 1983, at
Wrawby Junction
Wrawby Junction is a busy railway junction located a short distance west of Barnetby, North Lincolnshire, England and controls the confluence of the Network Rail routes from Lincoln, Retford and Scunthorpe towards Immingham and Cleethorpes. The ...
, near
Barnetby station,
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Barton ...
, England.
It happened when a
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 ...
freight train collided at low speed with the side of a local passenger train. The first carriage of the passenger train was derailed and turned over onto its side, and one passenger was killed instantly. In the subsequent inquiry,
[Accident Report]
Railway Accident: Report on the Collision that occurred at on 9th December 1983 at Wrawby Junction HM 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 ...
19 March 1985 the accident was deemed to have been caused by a signalman failing to secure a set of
points that he had operated manually after an equipment failure.
The accident
Approximately half an hour before the accident, the signalman in charge of
Wrawby Junction
Wrawby Junction is a busy railway junction located a short distance west of Barnetby, North Lincolnshire, England and controls the confluence of the Network Rail routes from Lincoln, Retford and Scunthorpe towards Immingham and Cleethorpes. The ...
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
had changed a set of points (No.89) to send a freight train into a siding, when he noticed a failure of a
track circuit
A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters.
Principles and operation
The basic principle behind t ...
, which prevented him from re-setting the points to their normal position (and also meant that the
signal
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
closest to the signal box was stuck at "danger"). He thus made the decision that he and another railwayman would walk to the points and move them to the normal position manually, which they did. Upon returning to the signal box, he noticed that the indicator for No.89 points appeared to be malfunctioning - normally it would show the points set to one position or the other, but the lights that showed which position the points were set to were both extinguished.
[
Meanwhile, the 15:02 freight train from Drax power station to ]Lindsey Oil Refinery
Lindsey Oil Refinery is an oil refinery in North Killingholme, North Lincolnshire, England owned and operated by the Prax Group. It lies to the north of the Humber Refinery, owned by rival oil company Phillips 66, and the railway line to Immingha ...
, composed of a Class 47 diesel locomotive (47299) and nine empty 100-ton oil wagons, had drawn up to the signal which was stuck at danger, and received a green hand-signal from the signal box. At this point, the driver of the freight train should have drawn up to the signal box to receive instructions, but on seeing the next signal clear, started to pull away.[
At the same time, the 17:32 ]Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...
to Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
local train, composed of a 2-carriage diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
, had left the nearby Barnetby station. The driver stopped at the Wrawby Junction home signal, which was at danger, but then he too saw the green hand-signal from the signal box and started to pull forwards slowly to stop at the signalbox for instructions.[
At some point between the railwaymen manually setting No.89 points, and the freight train reaching them, they had become reset to the previous position. The freight train, upon reaching the points, thus took the incorrect route and collided with the side of the passenger train. Despite the low speed of the collision, the heavy locomotive caused serious damage to the front carriage of the passenger train, and one passenger, 19-year-old Rachel Taylor, was killed.][
]
The inquiry
The HM 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 ...
inquiry found the accident to be due to the railwaymen failing to secure the points in the position in which they had set them. The report suggested that the signalman (though he had no recollection of doing so) had attempted to set the points lever in his cabin to the position matching that to which they had set them. This would have reset the circuit so that the points actually moved to the original position. The driver of the freight train was also held partially responsible, as he should have stopped his train at the signal box to receive further instructions.[
]
The freight locomotive
The incident was later given a stranger twist by the claim that the locomotive involved had been re-numbered in order to prevent a psychic's premonition that a locomotive numbered 47216 would be involved in a fatal accident. The freight train locomotive, 47299, had been renumbered from its previous designation of 47216 two years earlier, causing some confusion in rail enthusiast circles, as locomotives were only usually renumbered when some major mechanical alteration had been made to them, which was not the case. A 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 ...
source described the issue as "an amazing coincidence".[Fate rides on the 5.32 '']Sunday Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' 1 April 1984
References
External links
Map of the area, with an arrow showing the accident site
{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1900–1999, state=collapsed
Railway accidents and incidents in Lincolnshire
Railway accidents in 1983
1983 in England
1980s in Lincolnshire
Train collisions in England
Railway accidents caused by signaller's error