The Milton rail crash was a crash in 1955, at Milton, Berkshire (now part of Oxfordshire). A passenger train took a crossover too fast and derailed. Eleven were killed, and 157 were injured.

Overview

The crash occurred at about 13:15 on Sunday 20 November 1955, at Milton, between and on the line from on the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

. The train involved was the 08:30 excursion train from ,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, to

Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...

, consisting of ten coaches hauled by Britannia Pacific no. 70026 ''Polar Star''. The train failed to slow down for a low speed

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

. The engine and several carriages rolled down an embankment, which exacerbated the severity of the accident.

Contributing factors

Because the track involved had been formerly operated by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, the signals were on the right hand side, but the train was hauled by one of the new British Railways Standard Class 7 locomotives, which had its driving position on the left hand side. This incompatibility hampered the driver's view of the signals. There was a berth

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 ...

approaching the crossover, but it was much longer than the train, which made it hard for the signalman to estimate the speed of the train.

Aftermath

The signals were later modified to prevent a driver seeing a proceed signal for the crossover too soon. This is known as Approach Release. Handrails on the smoke deflectors also obscured the drivers' view, and these were later removed and replaced with hand holds on all the "Britannia" class locomotives that ran on the Western Region.

Overview

Contributing factors

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading