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Report on the Fire which occurred in an Express Passenger Train on 8th June 1950 near Beattock Summit in the Scottish Region British Railways

Document Summary

The report into the fire on an express passenger train near Beattock in 1950.

This document was published on 22nd December 1950 by Ministry of Transport.

The author is not known.

This item is linked to the Accident at Beattock on 8th June 1950

The original document format was Stapled Book, and comprised 25 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Stuart Johnson and is in our Accident reports collection. It was added to the Archive on 17th June 2006.

Copyright Information

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"There are unfortunately no living witnesses to testify what actually happened in the coach after [the passenger] went to the forward lavatory compartment, or of the events that took place in the last 20 seconds, between the pulling of the communication cord and the train stopping. Furthermore, the extraordinary suddenness and force which with the fire burst out naturally caused some consternation in the minds of those few who saw it immediately afterwards. It was only to he expected, therefore, that their subsequent evidence would take the form more of impressions than of clearly remembered and detailed facts. In addition, the physical evidence which remained was not, by itself, of any determining value because the coaches were so completely gutted.

Nevertheless, when all the evidence is considered as a whole, I am satisfied that it gives, beyond reasonable doubt, a true account of what happened, and also that it is sufficiently full and connected to make it very unlikely that anything else could have happened."

Timeline:
Fires on trains

22nd February 1902
Accident Returns: Extract for the Accident at Dingle on 23rd December 1901

10th February 1912
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9th November 1912
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22nd December 1950
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