Culgaith crash 1930

[daveinstoke]

Has anyone got any information, about the locomotives involved in this crash in 1930. There is a small bit of pathe film. showing what appears to be a 4f being dragged out of the tunnel, on its side.
Dave.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The pdf file of the accident report at Culgaith (available via the following link) should help...

Report on the Accident between Culgaith and Langwathby on 6th March 1930 :: The Railways Archive

Archive of UK railways documents

www.railwaysarchive.co.uk

Talks about the passenger loco being a type 4-6-0 Claughton class (number 5971), and the ballast loco being a type 0-6-0 (number 4009).

And this is the link to the 30 seconds contemporary British Pathé news/film clip referenced by @daveinstoke ...

 

[Gloster]

According to an item on the LNWR Society site the loco was Claughton 2511, presumably the LNWR number. According to Wikipedia, 4009 was a MR 3835 class.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

That may well be correct, although it does seem surprising that Colonel Trench's April 1930 official report would be incorrect on this point.

Possible explanation... Re-numbered or duplicated loco number?

 

[Gloster]

The LMS volume of Casserley and Johnston’s Locomotives at the Grouping gives 5971 as the LMS number of 2511. It carried the name Croxteth.

EDIT: The book also says that the 3835 class was what was widely known as a Fowler 4F.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

A trawl through t'interweb suggests that the passenger train loco involved in the accident at Culgaith was built in Crewe in 1920 and was originally LNWR loco 2511, which was then re-numbered as LMS loco 5971 in January 1923 and named "Croxteth".

It then had to be rebuilt at Derby works in late 1930 after the incident.

It was then further re-numbered and renamed, and remained operational until being scrapped in the 1960s.

Does that make sense?

 

[daveinstoke]

noticed the claughton number myself. just been reading about another poor 4f ! this one local to myself. This loco went down an embankment on the Biddulph valley line in June 1954 .
Dave.

 

[Taunton]

That's quite a spectacle, the two (Caledonian?) 0-6-0s dragging out the loco on it's side, presumably attached by chains. By the look of their exhausts and the speed attained, they were both grossly slipping.

 

[Gloster]

It seems that 5971 was nominally rebuilt as the first of the Patriot class, although little except the wheels may have been used. It remained as 5971 until 1934, when it became 5500; the name was changed from Croxteth to Patriot in 1937 and it was withdrawn in 1961. (Source: Wikipedia.)