Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash was the first major disaster to occur on the Great Western Railway. It involved the derailment of a long passenger train at Shipton-on-Cherwell near Kidlington, Oxfordshire on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1874.
The basic cause was established as a broken tyre on one of the carriages, but that failure was worsened by the poor braking system fitted to the train. When a passenger warned the driver of the problem, the carriage was still being pulled along intact along the rails. However, the driver braked immediately, before the brake at the rear of the train in the guards van could be applied. The engine brake caused the failed carriage to be squashed, and the carriages behind derailed near the Oxford Canal. There were 34 deaths and 69 seriously injured in the carriages which fell from the bridge over the canal. The thorough investigation which followed established the root causes very quickly. The tyre was on an old carriage, and was of an obsolete design. The fracture started at a rivet hole, possibly by metal fatigue, although it was not recognised as such by the inquiry. The weather was very cold that day, another factor which might have hastened the tyre failure. The disaster led to a reappraisal of braking methods and systems, and eventual adoption of continuous automatic brakes being fitted to trains, based either on the Westinghouse air brake or a vacuum brake.
[edit] References
- L. T. C. Rolt, Red for Danger: the classic history of British railway disasters Sutton Publishing (1998)
- [1]Railways Archive description, including the "Board of Trade Official Report on the GWR accident at Shipton-on-Cherwell (April, 1875)"
