| Abermule train collision | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | 26 January 1921 |
| Time | 12:06 |
| Location | Abermule, Montgomeryshire |
| Country | Wales |
| Rail line | Cambrian Line |
| Cause | Single-line token error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Deaths | 17 |
| Injuries | 36 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
The Abermule train collision was a head-on collision which occurred at Abermule, Montgomeryshire, Wales on 26 January 1921, killing 17 people. The crash arose from misunderstandings between staff which effectively over-rode the safe operation of the Electric Train Tablet system protecting the single line. A train departed carrying the wrong tablet for the section it was entering and collided with a train coming the other way.
Contents |
Single line operations were always regarded as inherently unsafe. The Cambrian Railway, which traversed Wales from Whitchurch in Shropshire to Aberystwyth and Barmouth, via Dyfi Junction, contained a number of single line sections. The small station of Abermule (or Abermiwl) was a crossing station between two such sections. To the east was Montgomery (also known as Trefaldwyn), to the west was Newtown (also known as Y Drenewydd). The English names were in contemporary use, and appear in most reports on the accident.
To protect the single line sections, Tyer's Electric Train Tablet apparatus was used. Two linked machines were used on each section, one at each end. To allow a train to proceed into the section, a call button would be pressed on one machine, alerting the operator on the machine at the other end, who would then press a release button which allowed a tablet (a metal plate inscribed with the name of the section) to be withdrawn from the caller's machine. The tablet would then be placed inside a pouch fitted with a metal loop (which allowed it to be quickly picked up or handed over by a train crew while in motion) and given to the driver of the train as proof of his authority to occupy the section. Until the tablet was replaced in one of the machines, another tablet could not be withdrawn from either of them. (Differently-shaped spindles prevented a tablet from another section being inserted into the machines.)
This system had protected the Cambrian railway for many years. There was a weakness at Abermule, in that the electric tablet machines and the other block telegraph instruments were kept in the main station buildings, while the signals were worked from a separate signal box at the east end of the station, and some of the points from a ground frame at the other end of the station. Regulations specified that only the stationmaster or signalman were to work the tablet machines, but it was common for both to be occupied with duties away from the station buildings, and it became accepted practice for any member of the station staff to work them.
Shortly before midday on 26 January 1921, two trains were approaching Abermule from opposite directions, and were due to cross there. These were a west-bound stopping train from Whitchurch, and an east-bound express from Aberystwyth. At the time, the regular Abermule Stationmaster, Parry, was on leave and Relief Stationmaster Lewis, who was deputising for him, had gone for his lunch. The other three station staff at Abermule were Signalman Jones, Porter Rogers and a trainee booking clerk named Thompson, who was only fifteen years old.
The staff at Montgomery station requested clearance for the stopping train, and Signalman Jones pressed the release on the tablet machine for the Montgomery-Abermule section, to allow it to proceed. He then checked that the express was running to time, and was informed that it was at Moat Lane Junction on the far side of Newtown, as scheduled. Jones then went to open the level crossing gates and clear the signals for the stopping train. Meanwhile, Relief Stationmaster Lewis returned from his lunch. A Permanent way sub-Inspector attracted his attention with an urgent enquiry and without entering the room where the instruments were situated or inquiring as to the position of any trains approaching Abermule, he immediately went with the sub-inspector to the goods yard.
Newtown station then requested permission for the express to proceed. Porter Rogers pressed the release on the tablet machine for the Newtown-Abermule section which allowed it to do so. He then went to the ground frame at the west end of the station to set the points for the express, but found the frame locked against him as Jones had already "set the road", perhaps unusually, for the stopping train on the down road. While Rogers was occupied at the ground frame, Newtown signalled that the express was entering the Newtown-Abermule section, but nobody was present in the Abermule station buildings to note the signal.
The stopping train arrived at this point. The youth Thompson collected the tablet for the Montgomery-Abermule section from the driver of the stopping train, and was heading back to the station buildings to replace it in the tablet machine when he met Lewis returning from the goods yard. He gave the tablet to Lewis, saying that he had to go and collect the tickets (although only one passenger had alighted from the train). He did not mention that he had yet to exchange the tablet for one for the Newtown-Abermule section (which he could not have done, as the Newtown-Abermule tablet machine was locked) and also mistakenly reported that the express was still "about Moat Lane", presumably from having overheard at least some of Jones's earlier conversation.
Lewis assumed that the tablet he had just been handed was for the Newtown-Abermule section. He also assumed that since the express had apparently not reached Newtown, the two trains would cross at Newtown rather than Abermule. He crossed back to the down platform and handed the tablet back to the stopping train's fireman, as the driver was oiling around the engine. Lewis gave the signal "Right away" by hand. Jones, who was also on the down platform, assumed that the express had been delayed or held at Newtown for some reason. Rogers, who had just returned from the ground frame, assumed the same from Lewis's actions. They did not realise the truth until the stopping train had already departed.
The crew of the express were travelling at about 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) and about to begin slowing before arriving at Abermule when they saw the stopping train on the same track. Although they immediately braked, they could not stop in time, and the crew of the stopping train did not appear to have seen them, as they continued to put on steam. The crew of the express were just able to jump clear in time, although they were both severely injured. Fifteen passengers, including a director of the railway, Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest, and the driver and fireman of the stopping train were killed in the collision.
After the crash, Driver Pritchard Jones of the express train was desperately concerned that he had made an error, until his fireman, Owen, had retrieved both their own correct tablet for the section and that for the Montgomery-Abermule section from the wreckage. The tablets were handed to the Traffic Controller for the Cambrian railway, who had been travelling on the stopping train, and the Chief Traffic Inspector, who had been a passenger on the express. The Inspector (George) took the Montgomery-Abermule tablet on foot to Abermule station and replaced it in the correct machine in the presence of witnesses, to allow a breakdown train from Oswestry to reach the scene of the crash and assist with freeing the injured.[1]
Both engines involved were 4-4-0 passenger locomotives. They were both reduced to wreckage, and written off. There was severe telescoping of the passenger carriages, especially in the express train, which caused most of the casualties. This was apparently the result of the collision occurring on a slight curve, causing the buffers to be slightly misaligned, and allowing the fourth carriage of the express to override the buffers of the third.
The obvious cause of the Abermule collision was the unauthorised working of the tablet machines by anyone who happened to be around, and the failure of the staff at Abermule to notify each other of their actions. The slack working practices had been allowed to develop over several years by Stationmaster Parry and Signalman Jones.
A contributory cause was the failure of anyone to examine the tablet they received by removing it from its pouch and checking that it was the correct one. Since the system had worked faultlessly for years, it may have been taken for granted. Indeed for anyone to ostentatiously examine a tablet may have been a breach of etiquette, as it would imply that the person handing it over might not be competent or trustworthy. Driver Pritchard Jones and Fireman Owen of the express train were conscientious in inspecting every tablet they received; the crew of the stopping train were not.
Finally, the awkward layout of tablet machines, signals and points levers at Abermule meant that it was possible for conflicting movements to be made. The inquiry recommended that tablet machines be placed in the signal box under the sole control of the signalman, and also that starting signals (which gave engines authority to leave the station) be interlocked with the tablet machines so that they could not be cleared until the correct tablet machine was locked. However, this would involve the rebuilding of the station buildings and signal boxes at Abermule and several other small stations, and it was suggested that alternate single-line sections use the electric tablet system and the older electric staff system; there would be no possibility of mistaking a staff for a tablet. The signalling method continued in use on the line until 1988, when it was replaced by the radio-controlled electronic token block system.[2]
The obvious, though costly, solution to the problems of working single lines would be to double the tracks. As finances allowed, the Cambrian Railway (and the Great Western Railway, which took over the Cambrian after the grouping of 1923) had been slowly carrying out the necessary work. Ironically, British Rail actually removed much of the doubled track and some of the crossing stations as part of the Beeching Axe.