22nd May 1915

[MGR1]

Today is the 98th anniversary of the Quintinshill rail disaster, Britain's worst ever in terms of deaths:

http://en.wikipedia....l_rail_disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster)

http://www.railbrit....page/maymorning (http://www.railbrit.co.uk/page/maymorning)

http://www.railwaysa....php?eventID=85 (http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=85)

The irony of men going off to fight for king and country and actually losing their lives on British soil is sobering, to say the least.

Memorial to the men of 7th Royal Scots:

http://www.geograph....k/photo/2934486 (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2934486)

Let us not forget.



Mike.

[Oberon]

A terrible, terrible tragedy. Thank you for bringing this up MGR, I honestly didn't realise that it was the 98th anniversary. Hard to believe that it will soon be 100 years.

[BossMark]

Very bad and very sad what happened there indeed.

[Jimbuna]

I had no idea...very tragic indeed.

[MGR1]

The best and, I think only, book dealing with the accident is "Gretna: Britain's Worst Rail Disaster" by John Thomas. My dad managed to get a copy off of e-bay a while back and, although quite short, it's a very good book. I'd challenge anyone to read the introduction and not feel the hairs on the back of their necks tingle.

This quote from Lt. Col. Druitt's accident report is taken from the front of the book:

"The force of this collision was such that the length occupied by the engine and fifteen coaches of the troop train after the collision was only about 67 yards, while its length when running was 213 yards."

Mike.

[Jimbuna]

^ Hard to imagine but demonstrates very well the forces of the impact involved.