TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT,.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 437, 6 November 1875, Page 3

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT,.

(From the Europezn Mail. ) On August 28th a terrible collision occurred on the Midland Railway, at Kildwick Station, sixteen miles north of Bradford, between the fast train from Scotland and an excursion train from Morecambe to Bradford. It appears that a half-day excursion train left Morecambe for Bradford at 8.50 p.m., consisting of twenty-three carriages, crowded with about 1000 passengers. On passing Cononley station, a mile and a half north of Kildwick, those in charge of the station observed that the tail lamps of the train had gone out. They at once telegraphed to Kildwick to stop and examine the train. The excursion was not timed to stop at Kildwick, but by means of signals the driver was caused to pull up just outside the station. One of the porters then went to meet the train to examine it, and see what was wrong, in accordance with the telegram from Cononley. The train approached at twenty-two minutes past eleven p.m., and at the same moment another telegram was received that the Scotch express t.ain had passed Cononley at twenty-two minutes past eleven. The distance signal, 800 yards from the station, was at once put on to stop it. Meanwhile the excursion train was slowly drawing into Kildwick station, and a porter had just discovered that the tail light was out, and was relighting it when the express was heard approaching. The line at this point is on a sharp curve, and there is a bridge over it about 200 yards from the station, so that the driver of the express could not see the train in front. The express was timed to stop at Kildwick, and could not therefore be going at full speed, but according to those who witnessed the catastrophe, it came on “ swiftly,” and dashed into the rear of the excursion train. The guard’s van was much broken. The last two carriages, the one nearest the van, being a composite and the other a thirdclass, were smashed almost to bits, and their occupants buried in the debris. The engine of the express train was very little injured, the driver, Harrison, the fireman, and the stoker remaining unhurt at their posts; nor were any of the passengers any the worse, except that they were severely shaken. The effect on the passengers of the excursion train, however, was dreadful. Besides the unfortunate occupants of the two hindmost carriages, those in the rest of the train were a good deal knocked about, many of them receiving severe cuts about the face and head. As soon as possible assistance was rendered to the sufferers in the rear part of the train. Bonfires were lighted and fed with the debris of the carriages, and the work of extricating the bodies of the killed and wounded was proceeded with. Willing workers were soon forthcoming, and the sufferers were removed from their position and carried into the waiting room of the station. It was then found that four persons—three men and a boy —had been killed on the spot, and a woman, who was alive when she was extricated, died almost immediately after. Seven or eight other persons were severely injured. After the injured persons had been temporarily attended to, they were taken, some to their homes, some to the Bradford infirmary, while two were left at the Junction hotel, a short distance from the station. About thirty of those who were more slightly injured, many of them suffering from severe cuts about the K face and head, had their wounds dressed at the station, and proceeded home. Breakdown gangs were despatched from Bradford and Leeds, and the work of clearing the line was rapidly proceeded with. No great damage had been done to the permanent way, and the only work was the removal of the debris. In a couple of hours one set of rails was cleared, and by 8 o’clock the whole of the line was free for the resumption of traffic. As soon as the news of the accident reached Bradford the excitement was very great. Almost the whole of the passengers wei e Bradford people, and when the news spread in the town the most painful anxiety was felt by those who had friends staying at Morecambe who might have come by the illfated train. The bodies of the killed were removed to the Junction Inn, where they were laid out in one of the bedrooms for the purpose of identification. Several of them presented injuries of a fearful description. One man had had his head, from the upper jaw and above, completely cameo, off, -..0 portions of it were found some hours after strewed about the line. Another man was completely scalped, and had received other dreadful injuries to the head. Indeed, all the killed had been wounded in the head, their bodies and limbs generally seeming to be almost uninjured.