The Orgreave Train Collision occurred on 13 December 1926 near Orgreaves Colliery signal box on the Great Central Railway

Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...

 line about 4½ miles east of Sheffield. A goods train had collided with a preceding goods train on the same line, and the wreckage had obstructed the adjacent passenger line.

A workman's train, known as a paddy mail, ran into the wreckage; paddy mails were workmans' trains operated in connection with all three shift changes at the collieries. These were hauled from Sheffield Victoria, as far as Orgreaves Colliery Sidings by the main line company, using whatever locomotive was available. At this point the colliery's own locomotives took over and in connection with this operation 'Rothervale No.6' was fitted with vacuum brakes. The train then ran to Orgreave Colliery platform

Orgreave Colliery platform

Orgreave Colliery platform was a workman's halt built to serve the miners working at Orgreave Colliery in South Yorkshire, England. These workmen's trains or "Paddy Mails" were operated between Sheffield Victoria and Treeton Colliery at shift change times being hauled along the main line to...

 and Treeton Colliery

Treeton Colliery

Treeton Colliery was a coal mine situated in the village of Treeton, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.Work on the sinking of Treeton Colliery commenced, with all due ceremony, in October 1875...

.

Circumstances

Note: The signal box was named Orgreaves Colliery, with an 's' being added to the name, in error, however the railway company never corrected the mistake and it remained as such until its eventual demise.

The line at Orgreaves Colliery was quadruple track, the centre tracks being the Main Lines operated under Absolute Block regulations, and the outer lines were designated Goods Lines, and they were worked under Permissive Block regulations. Whereas the Absolute Block System maintains a space interval between trains to prevent collision, the Permissive Block System permits trains to follow one another into a block section without special protection other than a speed restriction, usually of 4 mph.

At about 5 a.m. on 13 December 1926 the Orgreaves Colliery signalman had the 2.50 a.m. Mexborough to Woodford goods train, consisting of around 40 wagons, mostly empty, standing on the Up Goods Line at his home signal, waiting for clearance forward. He accepted the 1.15 a.m. Dewsnap to Nottingham goods train from Darnall West on the Up Goods Line under the Permissive Block regulations. This train collided with the rear of the stationary Woodford train. The weather was said to be foggy, dense in places. In the collision, a number of empty wagons were derailed and some were thrown foul of the Up Main line.

Just before 5.30 a.m. a workman's train colloquially referred to as the Orgreave "Paddy Mail" left Sheffield Victoria, and having called at Darnall

Darnall railway station

Darnall railway station was built to serve Darnall, a community about from the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and which later became a suburb of the city.-History:...

 and running on the Up Main line ran into the wreckage. The workman's train consisted of 14 assorted elderly vehicles hauled by an ex-G.N.R. "Atlantic" locomotive driven by Fred Bagley of Neepsend engine shed

Neepsend engine shed

Neepsend engine shed was an engine shed in Neepsend, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway to provide and service locomotives for passenger trains originating or changing at Sheffield Victoria and goods trains from various...

. The train was carrying around 800 miners travelling to their work at collieries.

Consequences

The locomotive of the workman's train hit the wagons at moderate speed, as the train was slowing to take branch points and the train was brought to a halt within 50 yards; some damage was done to the front coaches. Although there were many minor injuries to the colliers going on shift only 19 miners required the attention of staff at Sheffield Royal Hospital, one being detained with back and thigh injuries, and there were no fatalities.

Many of the uninjured miners from Orgreave left the train and walked along the lines to their pit to start the morning shift, to avoid losing pay for the day. For miners working at Treeton it was too far to walk within the time and many were taken back to Sheffield by the railway.

Commentary

The Absolute Block System was implemented to prevent train collisions by ensuring that only one train could be in any railway route section at one time. The Permissive Block System was used in situations where goods and mineral trains needed to close up to previous trains in congested areas, but it was in general restricted to goods and mineral trains only, and restructed to a speed of 4 mph, and prohibited in foggy conditions. It seems likely that Permissive Block working should not have been in operation at the time of the Orgreaves collision; and that the Nottingham train should have run sufficiently slowly that it did not collide with the stationary train in front.

When the collision took place, the guard of the Nottingham train should have run back down the line, exhibiting a red hand signal to place detonators on both the approaching lines (the Goods Line and the Main Line) to protect the point of the collision.

It is not clear why these mandatory safety measures were not adopted.