British Railway Disasters : Lessons Learned from Tragedies on the Track.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Robin.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 p.) ill

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Havertown : Mortons Media Group, 2020.

Summary:

This is the story of how Britain's railway disasters, horrific though they may be, change the network for the better through the crucial lessons that are learned. It starts with fatalities on early mining tramways before the dawn of the steam age and takes the story up to the present day. While many of Britain's worst tragedies are covered in depth, such as Quintinshill in 1915 and Harrow & Wealdstone in 1952, the book also looks at others that had resounding consequences for safety.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Introduction

1 1830 Liverpool &amp

Manchester: The first widely-publicised tragedy

2 1833 Bagworth: The introduction of the first whistles?

3 1865 Staplehurst: Heroism of Our Mutual Friend

4 1868 Abergele: Inferno of the Irish Mail

5 1874 Thorpe: Why Edward Tyer invented the tablet system

6 1876 Abbots Ripton: Double collision on the East Coast Main Line

7 1879 Tay Bridge: The railway Titanic

8 1887 Hexthorpe: The worst day at the races

9 1889 Armagh: No braking the runaway train

10 1890, 1940 and 1978 Norton Fitzwarren: Somerset's triple accident blackspot

11 1896 Preston: An end to speed

12 1896 Snowdon: Fatality on the first day

13 1906 Salisbury: One fast curve too many

14 1915 Quintinshill: Britain's worst rail disaster

15 1945 Bourne End: Blinded by the light

16 1947 Goswick: Carnage on the 'Flying Scotsman'

17 1952 Harrow&amp

Wealdstone: Britain's worst peacetime rail crash

18 1955 Sutton Coldfield: Sharp curve taken at double speed

19 1957 Lewisham: Carnage in the London fog

20 1967 Thirsk: Derailed cement wagon wrecks a prototype

21 1967 Hither Green: Bonfire night horror

22 1975 Moorgate: So why didn't he stop?

23 1975 Nuneaton: Nightmare after signals missed

24 1988 Clapham Junction: The wrong kind of wire

25 1994 Cowden: So who was driving?

26 1996 Rickerscote: Questions over wagon maintenance

27 1997 Southall: Britain's train safety systems condemned

28 1999 Ladbroke Grove: The signal that could not be seen

29 2000 Hatfield: Cracked rail killer

30 2001 Great Heck: Ten people die - and the railway was blameless

31 2002 Potters Bar: They waited nine years for justice

32 2004 Ufton Nervet: They waited twelve years for a bridge

33 2004 Tebay: 'Greed' set off a runaway train.

34 2007 Grayrigg: Potters Bar crash 'repeated' in Cumbria

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-911658-71-9