Witham railway station

Witham railway station

Witham railway station is a railway station serving the town of Witham in Essex. The station is located on the Great Eastern Main Line and is also the junction of the Witham-Braintree line...

 was the scene of a serious accident on Saturday 1st September 1905.

Derailment

All 14 carriages of the 09:27 London Liverpool Street to Cromer

Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...

 express derailed whilst travelling through the station at speed. 10 passengers and a Luggage Porter were killed when several of the carriages somersaulted onto the platforms causing considerable damage to the rolling stock and the station. 71 passengers were seriously injured. This remains to this day the worst single loss of life in a railway accident in Essex.

Enquiry

The subsequent enquiry found that the derailment occurred at a trailing crossover which was being worked on by three platelayer

Platelayer

A platelayer or trackman is a railway employee whose job is to inspect and maintain the permanent way of a railway installation.The term derives from the plates used to build plateways, an early form of railway....

s. The three maintained they had just been clearing and repacking the ballast which would not have impaired the stability of the track; and the only contributing cause was the high speed of the train.

Witness

However six weeks later a further witness was found, a shunter who was waiting for the express to pass before reporting to the signalbox who stated he saw that 'key was out of the rail' and saw the rail jump up as the locomotives passed the crossover and the leading coach plough into the ballast. When the enquiry was reopened the three platelayers stuck to their original story. But when the driver and fireman of the express were recalled they recounted that as their train approached Witham the three men were working furiously on the track ahead; so furiously that the driver feared they would not move out of the way in time; and that all three had their eyes riveted to a certain point of the track.

Final conclusions

The reconvened enquiry therefore found that the platelayers had rashly loosened the rail fastening and had been unable to make good their mistake in time.