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Irk Valley Junction rail crash

1950s in Manchester1953 disasters in the United Kingdom1953 in EnglandAccidents and incidents involving British RailAugust 1953 events in the United Kingdom
History of ManchesterRail accidents caused by a driver's errorRailway accidents and incidents in Greater ManchesterRailway accidents caused by signaller's errorRailway accidents in 1953Railway accidents involving a signal passed at dangerTrain collisions in EnglandUse British English from June 2015

The Irk Valley Junction rail crash occurred on 15 August 1953 at Collyhurst, just over a mile from Manchester Victoria station. At that point, the electrified line to Bury passes through Irk Valley Junction, so called because it lies on a viaduct above the River Irk. At 07:40 on the morning of 15 August 1953, the 07:20 electric train from Bury collided with the 07:36 steam passenger train to Bacup hauled by a Class 4P 2-6-4 tank engine. The leading electric coach struck and overturned the steam engine and smashed through the parapet wall. The front of the carriage fell 40 feet (12 m) onto the bank of the river; the rear fell 70 feet (21 m) into the shallow river itself. Nine passengers and the driver of the electric train were killed. The crash occurred on a Saturday; had it been a weekday, the casualties would likely have been far higher. The investigation revealed that the causes of the accident were twofold. Firstly the electric train passed the home signal at danger. Analysing the previous 110 runnings of the 07:20 train showed that the signal in question had not once been at danger; moreover the distant signal was at caution on 101 occasions. The driver appeared to have therefore missed the home signal as it was always clear in the past, and ignored the distant signal as it was normally at caution anyway and was normally cleared by the time he reached it. The signalman was also at fault for not checking that the electric train had stopped before allowing the steam train through. The absolute block system was in place, but was not being operated in accordance with the regulations. An analysis of the records revealed that the signal boxes in this area had frequently operated outside the guidelines, although until the fateful morning without serious consequence.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Irk Valley Junction rail crash (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Irk Valley Junction rail crash
Smedley Road, Manchester Collyhurst

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Latitude Longitude
N 53.498333333333 ° E -2.2261111111111 °
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Smedley Road

Smedley Road
M8 0RG Manchester, Collyhurst
England, United Kingdom
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Cheetham, Manchester
Cheetham, Manchester

Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Broughton to the north, Harpurhey to the east, and Piccadilly and Deansgate to the south. Historically part of Lancashire, Cheetham was a township in the parish of Manchester and hundred of Salford. The township was amalgamated into the Borough of Manchester in 1838, and in 1896 became part of the North Manchester township.Cheetham is home to a multi-ethnic community, a result of several waves of immigration to Britain. In the mid-19th century, it attracted Irish people fleeing the Great Famine. It is now home to the Irish World Heritage Centre. Jews settled in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, fleeing persecution in continental Europe. Migrants from Pakistan and the Caribbean settled in the 1950s and 1960s, and more recently people from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Far East.Heavily urbanised following the Industrial Revolution, Cheetham is bisected by Cheetham Hill Road, which is lined with churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, as well as terraced houses dating from its history as a textile processing district. Markets along the road trade in wares and foodstuffs from all over the world. The Museum of Transport in Manchester in Boyle Street, Cheetham Hill, is part of Queen's Road bus depot.