View source for Lewisham rail crash

{{Short description|1957 train wreck in Lewisham, London, England}}
{{About|the 1957 crash|the 1857 accident|1857 Lewisham rail crash}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox public transit accident
| name                = Lewisham rail crash
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| image               = St_Johns_Lewisham_Rail_Crash_-_Geograph-2042851.jpg
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| caption             = The rail-over-rail bridge being dismantled
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| coordinates         = {{coord|51|28|03.3|N|0|01|09.3|W|region:GB-LEW_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
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| date                = 4 December 1957
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| location            = near [[St Johns railway station|St Johns]]
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| country             = England
| line                = [[South Eastern Main Line]]
| operator            = [[British Railways]]
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| cause               = [[Signal passed at danger]]
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| bus                 = 
| trains              = 2
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| deaths              = 90
| injuries            = 173
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| footnotes           = [[List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom|List of UK rail accidents by year]]
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On the evening of 4 December 1957, two trains crashed in dense fog on the [[South Eastern Main Line]] near [[Lewisham]] in south-east London, causing the deaths of 90 people and injuring 173. An electric train to {{stnlnk|Hayes}} had stopped at a signal under a rail bridge, and the following steam train to {{stnlnk|Ramsgate}} crashed into it, destroying a carriage and causing the bridge to collapse onto the steam train. The bridge had to be completely removed; it was over a week before the lines under the bridge were reopened, and another month before the bridge was rebuilt and traffic allowed over it.

The driver of the Ramsgate train was acquitted of [[manslaughter]] charges after two trials. The [[Ministry of Transport (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Transport]] report found that he had failed to slow down after passing two caution signals, so he was unable to stop at the danger signal, concluding that the use of an [[Automatic Warning System]] would have prevented the collision.

==Collision==
[[File:34066 at Tunbridge Wells West station (1964).JPG|thumb|250x250px|[[Battle of Britain class]] 34066, "Spitfire", one of the locomotives involved, seen in 1964]]
On the evening of Wednesday 4 December 1957 there was heavy fog in the London area, and trains were running late. The 5:18&nbsp;pm {{stnlnk|Charing Cross}}-to-{{stnlnk|Hayes}} service, comprising electric multiple units totalling 10 carriages and carrying nearly 1,500 passengers, stopped at a danger signal at Parks Bridge Junction on the South Eastern Main Line, under a bridge carrying rail tracks over the line.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=1}} Trains were running out of sequence because of the fog, and the Parks Bridge Junction signalman wished to speak to the driver by the telephone at the signal in order to confirm the train's identity and destination.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=10}} At approximately 6:20&nbsp;pm it was struck from behind by a train from {{stnlnk|Cannon Street}} to {{stnlnk|Ramsgate}} via [[Folkestone Central railway station|Folkestone]], consisting of [[Battle of Britain class|Battle of Britain Class]] 4-6-2 no. 34066 ''Spitfire'', hauling 11 coaches carrying about 700 passengers and travelling at about {{convert|30|mph}}. While the rearmost two carriages of the Hayes train sustained moderate damage, the eighth coach was [[Telescoping (rail cars)|telescoped]] and destroyed by the ninth coach. The collision also threw the tender and leading coach of the Ramsgate train off the track, dislodging a pier of the bridge, causing it to fall and crush two coaches. Two minutes later, a train due to pass over the bridge stopped short, although its leading coach was tilted.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=1}}

There were 90 fatalities and a large number of people were taken to hospital, of whom 109 were admitted.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=1}} To this day it is the [[List of British rail accidents by death toll|third-worst]] railway accident in the United Kingdom, surpassed only by [[Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash|Harrow and Wealdstone]] (1952) and [[Quintinshill rail disaster|Quintinshill]] (1915).

==Aftermath==
The first emergency response arrived at 6:25&nbsp;pm with the fire brigade, ambulance and police being assisted by doctors and nurses. Help was accepted from [[The Salvation Army]], the [[Women's Voluntary Service]], [[St John Ambulance]] Brigade and local residents. By 10:30&nbsp;pm all of the injured had been taken to hospital.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=1}}

All four of the running lines under the bridge and the two over it were blocked. At [[St Johns station]], just north of the bridge, the [[North Kent line]] diverges; however, during the rescue this needed to be closed and the traction current switched off. An emergency timetable began at 6:10&nbsp;am the following day, with local trains travelling through [[Lewisham station|Lewisham]], avoiding the accident, and main line services diverted to [[London Victoria station|Victoria]], another London terminus.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=2}}

At 4:00&nbsp;pm on 9 December, the trains and the fallen bridge had been cut up and removed. The track then had to be relaid and the lines under the bridge were reopened at 5:00&nbsp;am on 12 December. A temporary bridge was built and the overhead line was reopened at 6:00&nbsp;am on 13 January.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=2}}

==Coroner's inquest and trial==
The jury at the [[inquest]] declared by majority that the deaths were due to gross negligence, but the [[coroner]] rejected the verdict and substituted one of accidental death.<ref>{{cite news |title=Negligence Seen in Rail Deaths; Coroner Balks |newspaper=The Globe and Mail|location=Toronto |date=1 January 1958 |page=2}}</ref> The driver of the Ramsgate train was then tried for [[manslaughter]], but the jury could not reach a verdict. He was acquitted at a second trial.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=1}}

==Civil action for psychological injury==
Henry Chadwick, a member of the public who assisted at the accident, successfully sued the British Railways Board for the "nervous shock" he experienced. The case, ''[[Chadwick v British Railways Board]]'', an important precedent for 30 years,{{sfn|Woolfson|2015}} was partly overruled by ''[[White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police|White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire]]'', 1999 2 A.C. 455.<ref>{{cite book |author=Giliker |title=Tort |edition=4th |pages=4–036}}{{full citation needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>

==Report==
[[File:Memorial to the Lewisham Train Disaster.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial to the train crash on the wall of the station]]

The [[Ministry of Transport (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Transport]] report on the collision was published in 1958. Witnesses were interviewed, the visibility of the signals on the line examined, and tests showed no fault in the signalling equipment.{{sfn|Langley|1958|pp=19, 21-22}} The report found that the driver had not slowed for two caution signals, and applied the brakes only after the fireman had called to him that he had passed a danger signal. Although he had poor visibility of signals from the driver's seat, he did not cross over to see them, or ask the fireman to look for them.{{sfn|Langley|1958|pp=22–23}}

The report concluded that an "Automatic Train Control of the Warning type" would have prevented the collision. Although installation had been agreed after the [[Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash]] in 1952, priority was being given to main-line routes controlled by semaphore signals.{{sfn|Langley|1958|pp=23–24}} The poor visibility of signals from the steam locomotive, [[SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes|Battle of Britain]] class No. 34066,{{sfn|Langley|1958|loc=second diagram at end of report}} was mentioned with a recommendation that they be fitted with wider windscreens.{{sfn|Langley|1958|p=25}}

==Legacy==
The collapsed bridge was replaced by a temporary military trestle structure, still in use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/st-johns-part-2-world-war-ii-to-the-current-day/|title=Tragedy and Turnaround: A History of St Johns Station – Part 2|date=29 April 2013}}</ref>

A plaque at [[Lewisham railway station]] commemorates the accident.<ref>[https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/lewisham-train-disaster Lewisham train disaster: London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London] Retrieved 2017-07-10.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Granville rail disaster]]: 84 killed<ref>(Originally 83, but an unborn child was added to the fatality list in 2017) {{Cite web|title=Unborn child victim remembered at Granville memorial after 40 years|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/parramatta/unborn-child-victim-remembered-at-granville-memorial-after-40-years/news-story/a48b72132912a214146a565f392cb893}}</ref> – [[Australia]]'s worst rail disaster, poor track maintenance causes derailment of a train and subsequent collapse of a bridge in [[Granville, New South Wales]] on 18 January 1977.

==References==

===Notes===
<references/>

===Bibliography===
* {{cite report |last=Langley |first=Brig. C.A. |title=Report on the collision which occurred on 4th December 1957 near St Johns station, Lewisham |url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Lewisham1957.pdf |publisher=[[Her Majesty's Stationery Office]] |year=1958 |access-date=6 September 2012}}
* {{cite web |last=Woolfson |first=A. |title=Chadwick v British Transport Commission [1967] 2 All ER 945 |url=http://www.londonlawmap.com/2015/02/chadwick-v-british-transport-commission.html |publisher=The London Law Map |year=2015 |access-date=16 February 2015}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=J.A.B. |title=British Railway Accidents of the 20th Century (reprinted as Disaster down the Line) |publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]] / Javelin Books |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-7137-1973-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Nock |first=O.S. |title=Historic Railway Disasters |publisher=Ian Allan |edition=2nd |year=1980}}
*{{cite book |last=Rolt |first=L.T.C. |title=Red for Danger |publisher=[[The Bodley Head]] / David and Charles / Pan Books |year=1956}}
*{{cite book |last=Tatlow |first=Peter |title=Lewisham St John's 50 Years on: Restoring the Traffic |publisher=Oakwood Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0853616696}}
*{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert C. |title=Black Clouds & White Feathers: Southern Steam from the Footplate |publisher=Oxford Publishing Co. |date=1990 |isbn=0-86093-457-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Adrian |title=Obstruction Danger |publisher=Guild Publishing |year=1989 |isbn=978-1-85260-055-6}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140531171456/http://www.storyvault.com/video/view/survivor_of_the_lewisham_train_crash_ An account of the Lewisham train crash from a passenger :(requires Flash) Video Interview]
*[http://www.londonlawmap.com/2015/02/chadwick-v-british-transport-commission.html The London Law Map: Chadwick v British Transport Commission 1967 2 All ER 945  ]

{{1957 railway accidents}}
{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1900–1999|state=collapsed}}
{{London railway accidents}}

[[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in London]]
[[Category:Railway accidents involving fog]]
[[Category:Transport in the London Borough of Lewisham]]
[[Category:History of the London Borough of Lewisham]]
[[Category:Railway accidents in 1957]]
[[Category:1957 disasters in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1957 in England]]
[[Category:1957 in London]]
[[Category:Bridge disasters in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Bridge disasters caused by collision]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving British Rail]]
[[Category:Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger]]
[[Category:December 1957 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Train collisions in England]]
[[Category:Rail accidents caused by a driver's error]]