Glasgow train accidents

Moderators: John, Sharon, Fossil, Lucky Poet, crusty_bint, Jazza, dazza

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby misspandalebear » Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:20 pm

Hi there,
Was wondering if any of you could help with something...

My grandfather died in a train accident when my dad was 7 years old and he was too young to know very much about it.
On doing some research at the Mitchell Library I found this...

Image

This was on the 24th October 1953. He died the next day.

I had tried to find official reports and even emailed the procurator fiscal to see if any records would be kept but to no avail.
Was just trying to shed a bit more light on events for my dad, as he was so young and they 'just didn't talk about it' back then.
Unfortunately he lost his mother too when he was 21 so never got the chance to find out anything himself.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Panda.
User avatar
misspandalebear
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:07 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby yoker brian » Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:00 am

Try the National Archives of Scotland

FAI: Records
Fatal Accident Inquiries take place in the local sheriff court and the records of these courts are held by the National Archives of Scotland. It is important to remember that not all FAI records have survived and that there are notable gaps for many of the sheriff courts. The missing records are not held elsewhere, they just haven't survived.
Please note that several courts recorded minutes of FAIs in their record of criminal jury trials, and some are to be found in the Ordinary Court act books. Where they have been identified in these records, the names of the deceased and the dates of the inquiry have been added to the catalogue entries of the relevant books. There are often gaps in date ranges and these have not always been noted in the table below. Nearly all of the FAIs held by NAS have now been listed individually (see the table below) and it should be possible to find them by searching by the deceased's name in the NAS' online catalogue.

NAS holds FAI records for the following courts for the following dates:
Glasgow SC36/30 1900-1907, 1915 (1 only), 1919-1929, 1948-1983 Listed

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS

If your ancestor died in a railway accident you may find a record of the death in the series of annual Returns and Report on Railway Accidents publish by the Ministry of Transport. NAS holds copies of these for the years 1854-1856, 1861-1940 and 1947 (NAS ref: BR/MT/S/6/1-132). The Returns and Reports are mostly un-indexed and they do not include all railway accidents. NAS also holds indexed Official Accident Reports for accidents which occurred on the North British Railway between 1869-1897 (NAS ref: BR/MT/S/6/135-6) and for individual accidents which occurred on British Railway (Scottish Region) between 1951 and 1975 (NAS ref: BR/MT/S/6). Some railway companies also kept their own accident books and these can be found by searching the NAS online catalogue for 'accident book' within the BR reference.
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
User avatar
yoker brian
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:28 pm
Location: Im here, where are you?

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby misspandalebear » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:51 am

Thankyou so much Brian,
Will chase up some leads after work.
I knew you guys could help. :) x
User avatar
misspandalebear
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:07 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby Alycidon » Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:51 pm

Unfortunately. personal injury or death on the railway where there was no actual collision or derailment would not be classified as a "railway accident", therefore there would not be an official investigation and report. Such incidents would most likely be investigated by the local British Transport Police, and unlesss there were suspicious circumstances there would be little in the way of documentation.
[img]http://www.jhowie.force9.co.uk/emu314carcream.gif[/img]

We must perform a Quirkafleeg!!!!
User avatar
Alycidon
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1047
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:11 am
Location: Eaglesham

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby misspandalebear » Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:02 pm

Hi Alycidon,

Unfortunately I believe this to be the case. Swept under the carpet by the British Transport Police (possibly under pressure from the Railway). How he came to 'fall' from a moving train shall remain a mystery I think.

Thanks for your help everyone.
User avatar
misspandalebear
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:07 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby yoker brian » Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:02 pm

Misspandalebbear,

Do you have a copy of the death certificate , it will be available on http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk you can look at it online for a small fee - look to see is there an RCE appended to the original certificate, these record any amendments or findings after the death certificate is issued and *MAY* include details of any subsequent fatal accident enquiry.
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
User avatar
yoker brian
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:28 pm
Location: Im here, where are you?

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby misspandalebear » Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:14 pm

UPDATE

I don't know what I had done wrong yesterday, but upon trying again I managed to find that there ARE some records in the NAS.
So it looks likely I'm on for a trip to Edinburgh soon. Of course I don't know how much or indeed what kind of detail there will be but I am eternally grateful for the help in finding this. I was just hoping to get some closure for my dad.

I do have a copy of the death certificate and also the page with the corrected entry from the procurator fiscal which provided a little extra information. Scotland's People is brilliant. ;)
That's when I contacted the procurator fiscal to ask about records but they told me there wouldn't be any as they only keep them for a set amount of time.

Thanks to your help I now have a bit more hope.

:) x
User avatar
misspandalebear
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:07 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby FlikeNoir » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:36 am

Vinegar Tom wrote:This is a scan of a photo I have on loan from my dad. There is a family connection somewhere , but sadly forgotten with folk passing away.

It shows a Glasgow & South Western Railway crash site. No idea of the likely location ( any ideas?). Date must be late Victorian / early Edwardian ?

Image

The original photo is about 3x5" , but it is worth looking at the huge size for a lot of detail I couldn't really make out in the original here


This was the train accident that took place just about 2:30am on Sunday 13th May, 1900, at Inchgreen over by the old Port Glasgow gasworks. The train was just taking 2 staff and 2 passengers who'd missed the last train back from Prince's Pier to Glasgow. The signalman at the Cartsburn junction wasn't expecting an engine at that time and changed the track to allow it to go down to the gasworks instead of allowing it to continue on the main line. The main line was an incline that required the engine to go a bit faster to scale it and so it was going too fast for the signalman to be able to revert the track back as the driver gave the signal he was planning to continue on the main line, so he had to let it continue onto the branch line which was a good 2 miles shorter in length than the main line. So the engine's going too fast on a shorter line, that's not on an incline, than the driver's expecting. No-one was sure why the brakes failed. A witness at the time says,
"When it came to the sleepers it sent them spinning like match-wood."
A news report at the time from the Greenock Telegraph dated the day after the accident says,
"Careering down the incline at a terrific rate, the noise being heard for some distance around, the engine sped through the bridge over the Port-Glasgow Road, rounded the curve at the east-end of the James Watt Dock, cleared the points, and, dashing aside the check sleepers at the terminus of the line, plunged OVER THE EMBANKMENT. The tremendous speed at which it must have been going is shown by the fact that both the engine and the tender cleared a distance of over eighty feet, and that in falling the former buried itself at the front fully fifteen feet in the bank of the old timber pond."
All four men died.
I'm in the process of making up a compilation of Railway Accidents at the moment from around Scotland, 1900-1915, if you're interested - https://randomscottishhistory.com/railw ... 1900-1915/
FlikeNoir
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:54 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby Vinegar Tom » Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:13 pm

Thanks very much FlikeNoir, really appreciate you taking the time to write that up. Now I know, and I now have inherited the photo.
Glasgow ya bas!
User avatar
Vinegar Tom
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2403
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:59 pm
Location: Trying to find the exit from Black Mesa

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby FlikeNoir » Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:20 am

I just published a book, volume 1 of a series, of every Scottish Railway incident I could find reported within the Scottish press. There's a LOT. Great for those doing Ancestry research as there are full names & addresses given, for witnesses too in some cases.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916258069/
FlikeNoir
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:54 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby Henrysix » Tue Nov 03, 2020 11:05 am

Fikenoir great stuff if we mention your name can we get some discount for us Glaswegian Pensioners.

Keep up the good work
Henrysix
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 405
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:29 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby FlikeNoir » Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:13 pm

For enthusiasts via this forum I can give you guys a £5 discount. That negates my profit, Amazon make some amount from others' work. Anyone interested email me with your name & address at [email protected] with "Hidden Glasgow Discount" in the title, and I'll return a link to you. Cheers guys ☺️
FlikeNoir
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:54 am

Re: Glasgow train accidents

Postby Henrysix » Tue Nov 03, 2020 4:27 pm

Excellent stuff!
Henrysix
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 405
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:29 am

Previous

Return to Glasgow Chat (Coffee Lounge)

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 29 guests