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Accident Data

Lichfield London Midland and Scottish Railway Lichfield, England - (01/01/1946) Freight traffic was generally given a lower priority than the much faster travelling passenger trains. Certain classes of goods trains, such as milk and fish, due to their perishable nature were however normally given precedence over all but the most important passenger trains. So it was the case with the Fleetwood - London, Broad Street fish train and the local Stafford - Nuneaton passenger train. It was a freezing evening as the four coach local train pulled into Lichfield Low-level station on the main west coast route between London and Scotland. It was diverted into the loop in order to allow the fish train to pass. Having ascertained that the local was clear of the main line, the signalman attempted to reset the points. A piece of frozen ballast prevented the lock from being fully withdrawn. The lever in the signal box was connected to the mechanism below by a ten foot long rod. As the lever was pulled over to operate the points, rather than performing any action on the points themselves (which were still locked) the rod itself bent giving the signalman the impression that he had reversed the points. This was confirmed for him when he was able to return the locking lever. As both the levers controlling the points were fully over, the interlocking allowed the signalman to pull both the distant signal and the starter off. Clearly this was a dangerous situation for the signals indicated a path through the station on the fast line, but in fact the road was set for the loop line. However, the points were equipped with a detector and this prevented the signalman from being able to operate the home signal. Thus, the passenger train in the loop was protected. As the fish train approached the station, its driver saw both the distant and the starter signals clear but failed to notice the home signal at danger. He thus proceeded without reducing speed. The fish train turned onto the loop and collided with the rear of the local pushing it 100 yards forward and wrecking all of its coaches. Twenty people were killed and 22 injured. The driver of the fish train claimed that the home signal was pulled off and he was supported by a number of witnesses. The inspecting officer, having examined the point detector equipment confirmed that it was in working order. He concluded therefore that they must have been mistaken. WRAD: Copyright © D A Fry 1998

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