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Charfield railway disaster

1928 disasters in the United Kingdom1928 in England20th century in GloucestershireAccidents and incidents involving Bristol and Gloucester RailwayAccidents and incidents involving Great Western Railway
Accidents and incidents involving London, Midland and Scottish RailwayDerailments in EnglandEngvarB from August 2014October 1928 eventsRail accidents caused by a driver's errorRailway accidents and incidents in GloucestershireRailway accidents in 1928Railway accidents involving a signal passed at dangerRailway accidents involving fogTrain and rapid transit firesTrain collisions in England

The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire. The Leeds to Bristol London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) night mail train failed to stop at the signals protecting the down refuge siding at Charfield railway station. The weather was misty, but there was not a sufficiently thick fog for the signalman at Charfield to employ fog signalmen. A freight train was in the process of being shunted from the down main line to the siding, and another train of empty goods wagons was passing through the station from the Bristol (up) direction. The mail train collided with the freight train and was derailed, coming into collision with the up train underneath the road bridge to the north of the station. Gas used to light the carriages ignited, and four carriages were burnt out. The driver and fireman of the mail train claimed that they had seen a clear distant signal on approach to the station, and therefore had assumed that the home signals protecting the station were also clear; however, testing of the signals after the accident confirmed that the distant had been correctly in the yellow "caution" position. The driver and fireman were charged with manslaughter, but were subsequently acquitted.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Charfield railway disaster (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Charfield railway disaster
Wotton Road,

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Wikipedia: Charfield railway disasterContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 51.6287 ° E -2.4005 °
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Wotton Road
GL12 8SN , Charfield
England, United Kingdom
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