Major Accidents
On 2 December 1955, 11 passengers died and 41 were injured when an electric passenger train from Waterloo to Windsor and Chertsey (dividing at Staines) collided with the rear of a steam hauled goods train. The accident occurred in thick fog and was caused by irregular block instrument operation by the signalman at Barnes Junction. See Barnes rail crash for more information.
On 4 December 1957, 90 passengers died and 173 were injured in a collision in thick fog near Lewisham in south London, which also caused the collapse of an overhead rail bridge on to the wreckage below. The number of deaths was the third highest ever in a British railway accident. See Lewisham rail crash for more information.
On 5 November 1967, a train from Hastings to Charing Cross was derailed by a track defect outside Hither Green station, killing 49 passengers and injuring 78. Among the survivors was Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. See Hither Green rail crash for more information.
On 12 December 1988, three trains collided near Clapham Junction because a signal circuit had been wrongly wired. Thirty-five people died and more than 100 were injured. See Clapham Junction rail crash for more information.
On 4 March 1989, two trains collided at Purley railway station when one passed a red signal. Six people died and 94 were injured. See Purley Station rail crash for more information.
Read more about this topic: Southern Region Of British Railways
Famous quotes containing the words major and/or accidents:
“Power is not of a man. Wealth does not center in the person of the wealthy. Celebrity is not inherent in any personality. To be celebrated, to be wealthy, to have power requires access to major institutions.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Depression moods lead, almost invariably, to accidents. But, when they occur, our mood changes again, since the accident shows we can draw the world in our wake, and that we still retain some degree of power even when our spirits are low. A series of accidents creates a positively light-hearted state, out of consideration for this strange power.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)