Railwayman James William Nightall (20May 19222June 1944) was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the

Order of Industrial Heroism The Order of Industrial Heroism was a private civil award given in the United Kingdom by the '' Daily Herald'' newspaper to honour examples of heroism carried out by ordinary workers. Many of the 440 awards were posthumous. Only two were made to ...

for the gallantry he showed during the

Soham rail disaster The Soham rail disaster occurred on 2 June 1944, during the Second World War, when a fire developed on the leading wagon of a heavy ammunition train. The wagon contained a quantity of high explosive bombs. The train crew had detached the w ...

. Nightall was an LNER Fireman on a fifty-one wagon ammunition train driven by Benjamin Gimbert. When a wagon caught fire, Nightall helped Gimbert uncouple it from the rest of the train in order to allow Gimbert to tow the burning wagon away from the rest of the ammunition wagons on the train. The wagon exploded after being towed a distance , killing Nightall instantly, but preventing a chain reaction in the other wagons. The explosion blew a twenty-foot crater in the track, destroyed Soham railway station, and damaged 600 buildings in the village. Gimbert, who miraculously survived the conflagration, was also awarded the George Cross and Order of Industrial Heroism.

Early life

Nightall was born in Littleport

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures th ...

(now

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

), England, on 20 May 1922. He was the son of Walter Nightall, a labourer, and Alice Nightall. He had a fiancee when he died, Edna Belson.

Awards

The citation for the award of the George Cross read as: Nightall was also awarded the

Memorials

On 28 September 1981 two Class 47 locomotives were named in honor of the two railwaymen: No. 47577 was named "Benjamin Gimbert, GC" and No. 47579 "James Nightall, GC". The nameplate "James Nightall G.C" was removed in November 1995. The loco was preserved in March 2007 and is at Mangapps Railway Museum (as at Oct 2015). On 2 June 2004, new "James Nightall G.C" nameplates were applied to 66 079 at Whitemoor yard (March).''Railway Magazine'' Aug 2004 page 68

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightall, James William 1922 births 1944 deaths British train drivers British recipients of the George Cross Railway accident deaths in England People from Littleport, Cambridgeshire Recipients of the Order of Industrial Heroism London and North Eastern Railway people