Quintinshill Rail Disaster - After The Trial

After The Trial

After release, Tinsley went straight back to working on the Caledonian railway as a lampman and porter at Carlisle. He remained in that post for over 30 years until retirement. He died in 1961. Meakin also returned to the railway, as a goods train guard. Some years later he was made redundant from that job and set himself up as a coal merchant, trading from Quintinshill siding, right next to the scene of the crash. In the Second World War, he worked in the Gretna munitions factory until he retired due to ill health. He died in 1953.

The pair were not the first signalmen to be convicted for their part in causing an accident; James Holmes was tried for manslaughter following the Thirsk rail crash of 1892 but was given an absolute discharge; nor the last as Signalman Frost was jailed for two years for his part in causing the Connington South rail crash in 1967.