Memorials

[Jimbob52]

The recent threads on the accidents at Lewisham and Clapham mention the memorials that have been erected at these tragic sites. This has prompted me to wonder how many similar memorials exist. Ones that come to mind include:

At Harrow and Wealdstone, there is a plaque outside the North Entrance. At Quintinshill, there is a plaque on a nearby bridge, a cairn in the car park at the Gretna service area and a memorial in Rosebank Cemetery, Edinburgh. At Moorgate, there are memorials in Moor Place and Finsbury Square. At Kings Cross there are plaques at the station and in St Pancras Church.

In Armagh, there is a poignant statue on The Mall and a plaque outside the Methodist Church. There is a memorial in the churchyard at Abergele. There is plaque in the village of Abermule. At Soham, there is a memorial to the victims of the munition train’s explosion and plaques in St Andrew’s church and at the station. There are plaques at Sutton Coldfield, Polmont and Hither Green. In the churchyard of St John’s, Bromsgrove, there are two tombstones of the men killed in a boiler explosion at the local station.

Not strictly a railway accident, but at the Underground station at Bethnal Green there is the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ memorial and a plaque on the staircase leading to the platforms.

No doubt there are several more.

 

[sh24]

Plaque in the ticket office of Balham Underground station relating to the war time bomb blast.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The tiny village of Bere Ferrers in Devon has two memorials, one in the parish church and one in the village centre, to the 10 New Zealand troops killed in the tragic accident at the station in September 1917.

Unfamiliar with British railways, they had alighted on to the down track when their up troop train from Plymouth to Salisbury was halted by an unscheduled signal stop, only to be run over by a down Waterloo to Plymouth express.

 

[Magdalia]

There is a plaque and clock at Kings Cross commemorating the 1987 fire. these are near the top of the main Victoria line escalators.

There is a plaque at Potters Bar commemorating the 2002 crash. It is on the railings above the down side subway ramp.

 

[Rescars]

I understand there is a memorial to the Tay Bridge Disaster at Wormit. There is also a lineside memorial to William Huskisson at Newton-le-Willows.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There's also a plaque commemorating Quintinshill in the waiting room on platform one at Larbert station, where the Southbound troop train had set off from in 1915.

 

[D6130]

I believe that there's a memorial to the victims of the 1999 Ladbroke Grove disaster a short distance away from the site of the accident. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there was recently a memorial service to commemorate those who died in the accident.

 

[theblackwatch]

A couple by the East Coast Main Line:
- There is a memorial garden near the site of the Great Heck accident which occurred on February 28th 2001.
- Above the site of Penmanshiel Tunnel is a memorial to the two workers who died when it collapsed on March 17th 1979.

 

[Ashley Hill]

There is (was) a memorial garden at Ufton Crossing (Ufton Nervet). I’m not sure of its condition since the crossing was replaced by a bridge.

 

[AndyPJG]

Colwich Junction Memorial Garden, dedicated to the memory of Driver Eric Goode who died in the rail crash at Colwich Junction on 19th September 1986.
Edit: Google Street View

 

[bramling]

There is a memorial, in Hawes church yard to the victims of the Hawes Junction sleeping car train collision and fire in 1910.

A similar one exists for the Ais Gill collision, in a church yard at Kirkby Stephen.

There is also a less well known plaque on one of the platforms at Leeds station, dedicated to the guard who lost his life in the more recent collision near Ais Gill.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I believe there is a plaque at Stonehaven station remembering the three people who died in the 2020 derailment near Carmont.

I believe that there's a memorial to the victims of the 1999 Ladbroke Grove disaster a short distance away from the site of the accident. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there was recently a memorial service to commemorate those who died in the accident.

You are correct. A memorial in a small garden is located overlooking the railway, accessed on foot from the mini roundabout at the exit of the Ladbroke Grove Sainsburys petrol station (just south of the bus stops).

There is also a plaque further down the line commemorating the Southall crash victims, but access seems to have become restricted in recent years behind a locked gate.

There is (was) a memorial garden at Ufton Crossing (Ufton Nervet). I’m not sure of its condition since the crossing was replaced by a bridge.

I’m pleased to confirm that the memorial garden has survived the bridge building and remains accessible. The path leading to it can be accessed from what was the northern approach road to the old level crossing.

 

[Strathclyder]

Two on the Glasgow - Edinburgh via Falkirk line:

Polmont has a plaque commemerating the 1984 crash installed in the station & Falkirk High has one commemerating 3 railway workers killed near there in August 1983 (I believe it was only unveiled eariler this year).

I understand there is a memorial to the Tay Bridge Disaster at Wormit.

There's a memorial both sides of the river. Unveiled in 2013 iirc.

 

[LMS 4F]

Portpatrick has a memorial to a young woman killed at the station on a works outing in I believe 1917. She was from Glasgow.
As all the railway is long gone the plaque is on the wall of a school which Is near where the station once was situated

 

[Tetragon213]

I believe there is a plaque in Salisbury Cathedral to commemorate those lost in the 1906 disaster.

 

[Harvester]

There is a memorial plaque near the Heugh Battery site at Hartlepool where the first shell landed, when Hipper’s battlecruisers bombardment the town in December 1914. Around 120 civilians were killed, including some railway employees when the station, docks, sidings and marshalling yards in West Hartlepool were also damaged. There were German casualties too aboard ‘Blucher’ when the cruiser was repeatedly hit, when in the arc of fire from the 6 inch guns of the Heugh Battery.

 

[62484GlenLyon]

There is a memorial at Burmarsh Road level crossing on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway to the driver of a loco killed when the loco was hit by a car.

 

[The exile]

IIRC, Charfield churchyard contains the grave of “two unknown” victims of the 1928 crash - otherwise known as the “Charfield Children”.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Discovered a small plaque at Crewe (on platform 11) yesterday to the memory of a member of staff who died at work. Didn't give details, but my impression was natural causes.

 

[billio]

Alongside All Saints Church in Otley is a memorial to the navies killed in the building of Bramhope Tunnel. The memorial consists of an exact scale model of the north portal of the tunnel.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

One placed near the site of the closed station at Abermule on the Cambrian.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Purley station, to commemorate the member of station staff who died when fighting a fire, deliberately set by a 16 year old on the train in 2002.

 

[Rescars]

A memorial to those killed at Armargh was unveiled in 2014, 125 years after the disaster.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Perhaps the tiny Garsdale Head Methodist Chapel might be a suitable place for a memorial to the victims of the Hawes Junction sleeping car train collision and fire in 1910?

At Garsdale is the statue of Ruswarp the dog. A real tear-jerker of a story if you're an animal lover. Not related to a railway accident, but worth a mention nonetheless.

 

[stuving]

As his Wikipedia page shows, there is a plaque to John Axon GC (and guard John Creamer) at Chapel-en-le-Frith station, where they died on 9th February 1957. This of course is still quite well known outside railway circles, as it was the subject of the first of the radio ballads - The ballad of John Axon (also 1957). For those not old enough to remember the accident or the radio ballads, his name is perhaps better known as that of his grandson, the TV actor, whose life also ended prematurely.

 

[Trackman]

The recent threads on the accidents at Lewisham and Clapham mention the memorials that have been erected at these tragic sites. This has prompted me to wonder how many similar memorials exist. Ones that come to mind include:

At Harrow and Wealdstone, there is a plaque outside the North Entrance. At Quintinshill, there is a plaque on a nearby bridge, a cairn in the car park at the Gretna service area and a memorial in Rosebank Cemetery, Edinburgh. At Moorgate, there are memorials in Moor Place and Finsbury Square. At Kings Cross there are plaques at the station and in St Pancras Church.

In Armagh, there is a poignant statue on The Mall and a plaque outside the Methodist Church. There is a memorial in the churchyard at Abergele. There is plaque in the village of Abermule. At Soham, there is a memorial to the victims of the munition train’s explosion and plaques in St Andrew’s church and at the station. There are plaques at Sutton Coldfield, Polmont and Hither Green. In the churchyard of St John’s, Bromsgrove, there are two tombstones of the men killed in a boiler explosion at the local station.

Not strictly a railway accident, but at the Underground station at Bethnal Green there is the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ memorial and a plaque on the staircase leading to the platforms.

No doubt there are several more. Are there other sites where a memorial would be appropriate?

There's 2 at Hither green, a new one was unveiled a few of years with the names of the people who lost their lives.
There's one inside Lewisham shopping centre, but I cannot remember if it's for Lewisham or Hither Green.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think a plaque at Cowden was featured recently on a thread here marking the anniversary of that crash on the Uckfield line - including a picture

see post #1 of the below thread

Cowden disaster 30th anniversary......

Today is the 30th Anniversary of an head-on collision on the Uckfield line between 2 x 6car class 205 DEMUs. 5 people lost their lives including both drivers and a guard who was in one of the cabs at the time. The cause was the SPAD of signal OD58 at Blackham Junction on to a single line...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[alxndr]

There is a memorial plaque at Newton remembering the 1991 crash.

 

[WolvertonWorks]

There's a plaque in the garden in front of the building used by Wolverton Town Council and the Library - the "Town Hall" building was built by the railway company and has served in various roles over years including the market.

The plaque was unveiled in November 2019 IIRC. It had been hoped to site a memorial some years previously in the "Railcare Garden" which had been created when the "Works wall", which ran all along one side of the main road through Wolverton protecting the Railway Works, had been breached to make a small garden but tis didn't happen.

The plaque lists the men who were employed in the Works who were killed on active service in WW1. Three of them are part of my wider family - two grand-uncles and the husband of a grand-aunt.

There is a photo here: https://www.geminirailgroup.co.uk/n...1-memorial-unveiled-after-a-decade-of-effort/

 

[matchmaker]

There is a memorial garden in the village of Castlecary to remember the victims of the 1937 disaster, but also two children who died in 1958 when they fell into a disused mine shaft, and the two crew who died in the 1968 rail crash.