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Accident Returns: Extract for the Accident at Retford on 4th September 1860

Document Summary

The report on a collision between a passenger train and a coal train at Whisker Hill Junction, Retford.

This document was published on 13th September 1860 by Board of Trade.

It was written by Capt. H. W. Tyler.

This item is linked to the Accident at Retford on 4th September 1860

The original document format was Bound Volume, and comprised 2 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Barry Turvin and is in our Accident reports collection. It was added to the Archive on 5th July 2012 by Stuart Johnson.

Copyright Information

This document is Crown Copyright, and is subject to the terms governing the reproduction of crown copyright material. Depending on the status and age of the original document, you may need an OPSI click-use license if you wish to reproduce this material, and other restrictions may apply. Please see this explanation for further details.

"The signalman came on duty on the 4th instant at 7 A.M.; and at 9.35 A.M. he saw a coal train approaching from Manchester. He lowered his distant signal for it to run in towards the junction, intending to allow it to go through on the straight road ; but as it was passing that signal, he saw a passenger train also approaching the junction, along the loop-line from the Retford Station. Not wishing to stop the passenger train, and thinking that it would be dangerous to allow the coal train to cross the junction in front of it, he held out his red flag to the driver of the coal train, and kept his main signal at" danger" (according to his own account), against that train, whilst he lowered both the main and the distant signals applying to the loop-line, for the purpose of permitting the passenger train to cross the junction in front of the coal train.
...
The passenger train...left New Holland for Manchester at 7.30, and Retford punctually at 9.35. The driver gave the usual three whistles as he approached the junction, and the signals were lowered for him to pass the junction... He had passed through the junction-crossing with his engine and tender, at a speed of 10 miles an bour, before he saw the engine of the coal train approaching from the opposite direction. He turned his steam full on, and did his best to get his carriages clear of the junction out of the way of the coal train; but the engine of that train caught the three last vehicles of his train, [and] threw them off the rails."

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