On 17 October 1898 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 ...

, on what was the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

near

Brigg Brigg ( /'brɪg/) is a market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in the 2001 UK census, the population increased to 5,626 at the 2011 census. The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east–west tra ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England, a passenger train collided with a derailed goods train; killing 8 people and injuring 26 more. The passenger train was the 16:45 from

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 ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

consisting of a

brake van Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...

, three passenger carriages and a rear guard's van. The goods train which had left

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

earlier in the day for

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

consisted of 44 waggons loaded with

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

tree trunks, three trunks to a load secured with chains. The length of the trunks (up to 42 ft) necessitated the close coupling of the waggons. The goods train was being shunted on a curve at low speed adjacent to the main line when five trucks derailed just as the passenger train approached. One truck toppled over; its load of timber projecting over the main line. The brake van 'was carried away with the exception of the offside and roof'. The next two carriages were 'clean swept away' above the floor level; the first compartment of the third passenger carriage was also destroyed. The investigation admitted that it was not possible to stop shunting operations from occurring on lines parallel and close to passenger running lines.

References

Sources

*''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 1898 : **18 October page 6 "Serious Railway Accident" **19 October page 7 "The Serious Railway Accident" **20 October page 6 "The Serious Railway Accident" *''

'' 1899 : **6 January page 7 "The Wrawby Junction Accident" {{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1815–1899, state=collapsed Railway accidents and incidents in Lincolnshire Railway accidents in 1898 1898 in England Great Central Railway 19th century in Lincolnshire Derailments in England Train collisions in England October 1898 events