Fatal accident on GW line late 50's - early 60's - information wanted

[Czesziafan]

This is a slightly unusual request for help and advice.

When I was little my parents told me about a very sad and unfortunate fatality that occurred on the GW main line somewhere between Burnham (Bucks) and Taplow stations some time in the late fifties or early sixties. As far as I remember they said that a disabled boy aged approximately 6 years old was among a group of children who were trespassing on the railway between Burnham and Taplow stations when he fell onto the line and having mobility problems was struck by a train and killed before anyone could get him to safety.

I would be interested to find out more information about this accident. I have tried the local papers and websites covering railway accidents but nothing has come up relating to this accident.

The unfortunate child's family were friends of my parents and I believe they were American.

Would anyone be able to suggest where I might find out more about the circumstances of the tragedy please?

 

[John Webb]

Unlikely to have been investigated by the Railway Inspectorate as cause fairly obvious. Coroner's report or Registrar's records of Deaths, perhaps? Or local or British Transport Police records?

 

[WesternLancer]

This is a slightly unusual request for help and advice.

When I was little my parents told me about a very sad and unfortunate fatality that occurred on the GW main line somewhere between Burnham (Bucks) and Taplow stations some time in the late fifties or early sixties. As far as I remember they said that a disabled boy aged approximately 6 years old was among a group of children who were trespassing on the railway between Burnham and Taplow stations when he fell onto the line and having mobility problems was struck by a train and killed before anyone could get him to safety.

I would be interested to find out more information about this accident. I have tried the local papers and websites covering railway accidents but nothing has come up relating to this accident.

The unfortunate child's family were friends of my parents and I believe they were American.

Would anyone be able to suggest where I might find out more about the circumstances of the tragedy please?

would it be worth widening your date search for local papers as one might think it was the sort of thing that would have got reported. Presumably coroners / registrars records are retained. Have you tried the County Archives service for the county concerned to see if they hold them - or if they know who holds them.

 

[Wyrleybart]

would it be worth widening your date search for local papers as one might think it was the sort of thing that would have got reported. Presumably coroners / registrars records are retained. Have you tried the County Archives service for the county concerned to see if they hold them - or if they know who holds them.

Certainly the approach i use for any research I have undertaken. I was blessed with a really useful local history centre near me with very enthusiastic staff. Local newspapers tend to be stored on microfiches, and whilst it takes time you can mostly achieve results if you persevere. Newspapers can range from local evening dailies to the weekly locals with parish and local news.

If

 

[Non Multi]

The local newspaper publisher's online archive:

Maidenhead Advertiser

www.baylismediaarchive.co.uk

The pages have been scanned and read by optical character recognition software into text. Some of the text produced is unfortunately gibberish!

 

[WesternLancer]

Certainly the approach i use for any research I have undertaken. I was blessed with a really useful local history centre near me with very enthusiastic staff. Local newspapers tend to be stored on microfiches, and whilst it takes time you can mostly achieve results if you persevere. Newspapers can range from local evening dailies to the weekly locals with parish and local news.

If

Sounds very good
This thread is from a poster who obv makes v good use of newspaper archives (I followed her link to her very good blog and read some nice examples of how she had used them to find out about things linked to her family)

Pension Age Historically

My ancestor was the station master at Wyre Forest in Worcestershire. He resigned in November 1899 at the age of 58 and was described as a retired station master in the 1901 census. In the 1911 census, at the age of 69, he was described as a railway pensioner. I understand that the GWR...

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