Eccles rail crash (1941)
| Eccles rail crash 1941 | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | 30 December 1941 |
| Time | 08:18 |
| Location | Eccles, Lancashire |
| Country | England |
| Rail line | Liverpool to Manchester Line |
| Operator | London Midland and Scottish Railway |
| Cause | Signal passed at danger, fog, error in working practices |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Deaths | 23 |
| Injuries | 57 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
The 1941 Eccles rail crash occurred on 30 December 1941 at the east end of the station at Eccles, which was then in Lancashire but is now in Greater Manchester in northern England.
Events
A westbound train passed danger signals in fog during the wartime blackout, and collided at about 30 mph with an eastbound train traversing a crossover. A major contributory cause was that the signalman had erroneously suspended "fog working", which would give greater distances between trains, due to a misunderstanding about whether fogmen were on duty. The fog was worsened by the nearby Manchester Ship Canal and visibility was as low as 10 yards.[1]
Victims
Twenty-three people were killed.
References
- ↑ Wilson, Major G R S (9 April 1942), Accident Report, Ministry of War Transport, retrieved 2008-11-12 (Poor-quality scanned typescript)
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