Report by Lt.-Colonel Sir Alan Mount, C.B., C.B.E on the Derailment of a Passenger Train which occurred on the 30th September 1945 at Bourne End on the London Midland and Scottish Railway

"The 8.20 p.m. express passenger train, Perth to London, running under clear signals, traversed the junction crossover from the up Fast to the up Slow at excessive speed. The engine became derailed and was overturned into a field some g it. below the line; six of the leading 7 coaches were piled up in rear of it and destroyed. Of the 15 coaches on the train, only the last 3 (two sleeping cars and a brake van) remained on the rails. The line here is in low embankment for some zoo yards between two cuttings, a fortuitous circumstance which undoubtedly worsened the results of the derailment. The train carried 398 passengers (including 42 in the. sleeping cars), and I regret to report that 38 persons, including Driver S. Swaby and Fireman W. Jones, were killed. Five other passengers succumbed later ia hospital. Of these 43 fatalities, 5 were other railway servants who belonged to the Royal train dining car staff and were travelling home as passengers. Altogether 124 passengers were injured or subsequently complained of shock, of whom 64 suffered serious injuries and were detained in hospital for more than one week. Guard W. Horwood was in the pantry at the rear end of the thirteenth vehicle (not derailed), and was badly shaken and bruised; Sleeping Car Attendant T. Wright, who was in the corridor of this vehicle, was also shaken and bruised.

Medical aid was forthcoming at once, and it was possible to bring into use 2 of the 4 ambulance equipments on the train. A Doctor, who was a passenger, rendered immediate assistance, and was joined by another Doctor at 9.20 a.m.; two more arrived at 9.30 a.m. and others followed. In the meantime, nurses and ambulances arrived, and the first casualty was admitted to West Hertfordshire Hospital, three miles away, at 9.30 a.m. In addition, many people in the locality rendered assistance in releasing trapped passengers, assisted by American troops stationed in the area, who promptly sent cranes and equipment. Generally, the various services also concerned, the Police, N.F.S., and W.V.S., responded on a war-time basis, and several mobile canteens, which were brought by various organisations, ably assisted. The whole of the relief work appears to have been carried out with great efficiency."

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