We live in an age when, thankfully, serious rail accidents in the UK are a rarity. That wasn't always the case. During the late 19th century and early 20th in less technologically advanced times, there were regular incidents, sometimes involving significant losses of life.
One particularly horrific accident in our region unfolded at St Bede's Junction, Jarrow, in December 1915 when a collision involving three trains left 19 people dead and 81 injured. Another serious malfunction, culminating in subsequent fatalities, took place this week in 1907 on the outskirts of Gateshead.
The 4pm edition of the Evening Chronicle on March 26 carried the breaking news headline: 'Railway Disaster Near Felling - Leeds express runs off the lines'. It was an unseasonably warm day - with the folk of Tyneside looking forward to the imminent arrival of spring - when the regular Leeds to Newcastle express train came hurtling along the line through Gateshead towards its Central Station destination.
READ MORE: Tyneside 60 years ago: 10 photographs from around our region in 1963
At 1.40pm, disaster struck. Travelling at full speed, the train hit a kink in the line between Heworth signal box and Felling station. It flew off the lines with such speed and force that six of its eight passenger carriages were derailed, with two of them overturned.
The engine also lay on its side as crowds of local people quickly descended to witness the devastation. Windows and doors were torn out and the first carriage was virtually destroyed with a rail track piercing the floor and exiting through the roof. A subsequent edition of the Chronicle reported how “medical men, police constables and the Felling Colliery Ambulance Brigade attended to the injured”.
One passenger who had boarded the train at Sunderland told our reporter how in his carriage, "was one poor fellow lying, and others had been knocked about". Considering the sheer severity of the accident, miraculously only eight of the 34 passengers on board were injured.
Initially there were no fatalities, but sadly a certain Mr Watson died two days later, while Mr Robson passed away on Easter Monday, April 1. In the aftermath, it was found the buckle in the line which derailed the train had been caused by a sudden and dramatic change in temperature from the previous day’s frost to the unseasonal heat on the day of the accident.
Tyneside rail enthusiast and amateur photographer Trevor Ermel points out: “The track was twisted by the heat of the sun before the train reached that point. Apparently the distorted track was spotted by a deaf and dumb man who managed to get another chap to have a look, who then ran to the signal box at Heworth to raise the alarm. The signalman queried the information rather than immediately put his signals to danger and moments later the train crashed, fatally injuring two passengers.”
The dramatic photographs are published courtesy of local history writer Andrew Clark who is also the publisher of Summerhill Books.
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