South Croydon rail crash

The railway accident in South Croydon was a collision between two commuter trains on October 24, 1947 in fog in the south London borough of Croydon, caused by the irregular interlocking engagement of an employee in the command. 32 [Note 1] people died.

Starting position

The accident occurred on the four-track railway line here Brighton Main Line of the Southern Railway. This access route to London Bridge Station has a very high frequency of trains. She was with the guarantee scheme of Sykes, "Lock and Block" equipped. This was from the last quarter of the 19th century. It was the security forth the fact that - electro- mechanically secured - only two adjacent signal boxes could release lying between them stretch for a train together. One of passing train made ​​the signal by a mechanical device in the basic position " Halt". The fact that the plants were now about 50 years old and have not had the Second World War can be modernized, it always came back to disturbances. In this case there was the possibility to bypass the system, this was accomplished by the use of a special key. The signalman employees in the last station before the accident, Purley Oaks, had only a few weeks experience of working on a switchboard and was used here but despite the high frequency of trains. Because of the numerous train movements on the four-track route he had to run an average of four service actions per minute.

The train 7:33 clock from Haywards Heath to London Bridge consisted of a set of three EMUs from three cars. This gave a total of about 750 seats. But in the morning rush hour, the train had about 1000 passengers on board. Behind this ran in the block distance, another train, from 8:04 from Tattenham Corner. This train consisted of 4 EMUs to two vehicles with 536 seats, but was also occupied with about 800 passengers. The trains were from 1932 and had wooden superstructures.

This morning there was a thick fog that reduced visibility to about 20-150 meters.

Circumstances of the accident

The first train was stopped in Purley Oaks in front of the exit signal, since it was the following South Croydon train station for trains from retracting side lines not yet accept. The employees of the interlocking of Purley Oaks forgot him completely in the hustle and bustle. He could not see him because of the fog. So the train waited almost six or seven minutes before the closed signal. Was also offered as the interlocking of the second train from Tattenham Corner, the employees of the signal box no longer thought of the waiting train. He would rather give the second train entering the station: The entry signal but does not let himself be pulled because the first train was still in the station. The employees of the interlocking believed in a disruption of Zugsicherungsanlage, picked up the key, unlocked the entry signal manually, preferring "free ride " on. Also, the exit signal he presented for the second train "free ride " on. He was referring to the driver of the first train of course up. He drove off and blocked a now lying behind him exit signal of the station Purley Oaks.

The employees of the interlocking wanted to ensure the swift onward travel of the train that but found that the exit signal now back " stop" showed. And it could not move it again to " ride free" because the first train was indeed in the stretch, the secured this signal. The employees of the interlocking felt so confirmed that a disruption of Zugsicherungsanlage vorliege in its adoption, bridged these alleged interference with the key and set the signal again to " ride free". Thus, the second train ran into it freely through the station Purley Oaks and into the next stretch of about 70 km / h.

The first train was the warning signal for the entry signal of the station South Croydon " expect danger " is displayed. The driver braked. When he realized the main signal, it showed " ride free". He began to accelerate again, but had a maximum speed of 25 km / h than at 8:37 clock rebounded the following train on him from behind. Whether the driver was able to slow down, then was no longer observed. The car was so badly damaged that relevant findings were no longer possible. The leading vehicle of the rear train pushed forward under the last of the. Thus, the structures of the colliding vehicle was shaved. The last car of the train rushed to the front and so also blocked the track the opposite direction. The end of the front running vehicle was destroyed. In the two mainly affected car at the end of the front and the top of the following train about 200 people held on.

Follow

32 people died, especially in these two cars, and the driver of the colliding train. 40 people were also heavy, 141 slightly injured. The remaining vehicles of the two trains were only slightly damaged. This was the worst accident that ever occurred in the Southern Railway.

The first ambulance arrived already three minutes after the collision at the accident site.