Train stranded by Kent tornado 1958

[Czesziafan]

I recently came across some information about a very unusual rail incident way back in 1958 and wondered whether anyone had any more details about it.

What I have found out so far is that on Friday 5th September 1958 rail services in Kent were badly disrupted by the most severe thunderstorm to affect the UK in the 20th century. This was no ordinary summer storm but a true American style "supercell", with flash flooding, cricket ball sized hailstones, and at least 2 damaging tornadoes, which was widely reported in the press at the time. Fast forward to Eynsham station in Kent at the height of the storm at approximately 20.00 that Friday evening, and a Birkenhead to Dover Marine Lourdes pilgrimage special is stopped on the down line due to fallen trees obstructing the track at Shoreham, and it remained stranded there for the next 8 hours. During that time local villagers kept the passengers and crew supplied with tea and sandwiches, and used connected garden hoses to replenish the tender when the loco ran low on water. Ultimately at 04.00 the train managed to get away. Apparently some of the coaches had red cross emblems painted on their sides.

The train had left Birkenhead Woodside that afternoon and I would be interested to know what route it took to Kent. I surmise that it would either have used the ex-GW via Shrewsbury, Birmingham, and the ex-GW&GC line, or gone via Crewe and the WCML, to reach the West London Line to get on to the SR at Clapham. Does anyone know the route for certain? The reference in a press report to red crosses on some of the rolling stock is intriguing: did BR have ambulance cars at that time? I would also be interested to know what kind of motive power this train had: I would assume a Bulleid light pacific on the SR but does anyone know for definite?

I know this is a very long shot but any help or further info would be much appreciated.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Can't add anything to the rail story, but the thunderstorm that hit South East England that day was recorded as being particularly violent and deposited giant-sized (six ounce plus) hailstones on Horsham in nearby Sussex, smashed thousands of greenhouse windows, as well as ripping off the stand roof of the local football club and partly demolishing the walls of the local service station.

 

[Andy R. A.]

Although it doesn't mention the specific train an article appeared in the November 1958 Railway Magazine of the disruption caused. The meteorological station at Harrow recorded 1470 lightning flashes within a 10 to 15 mile radius between 2000-2100. Makes for interesting reading, plus a few photos of diverted South Eastern services the next day running via East Croydon, Oxted, and the now vanished Crowhurst Spur to get back onto the Redhill to Tonbridge Line as Sevenoaks Tunnel was blocked by landslips.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had a recollection of a previous thread on Lourdes, but having found this you recall it I'm sure, and it doesn't really cover your questions this time! https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/vintage-lourdes-pilgrimage-trains.189829/

I recall reading an article in the Friends of the NRM journal, not on line, about ambulance trains, pointing out that some of the BR Mk1 stock was built with removable windows to help with stretcher access /egress, and that this was on occasion used on Lourdes excursions for travelers who needed it (I think that has also featured in a thread on here ref the Mk1 stock).

I don't know any details but it would seem quite likely, but I don't actually know, that even into the 1950s / cold war period / post Korean war era the MoD and / or BR would have retained ambulance train type stock eg in the event of conflict evacuations, perhaps even stock used in WW2, and that certain carriages could have been made available for special services like this for those with serious illness or disabilities, who would otherwise not have been able to make the pilgrimage. Instinct tells me that pre Beeching era if the railways had the stock, or access to it, it was available for use if required.

I'd also be interested in the route such a service would have taken.

 

[30907]

The station is Eynsford BTW.
Photos of Lourdes specials used to appear in the railway press, though I don't instantly recall the Red Cross on the side (the MoD definitely had such).
For a train starting at Birkenhead, the GW would certainly have been used as far as possible, not the LNW! I would guess it left the main line at North Pole Jn and changed engines at Kensington Olympia.

 

[Gloster]

There used to be a regular service between Birkenhead and east Kent that ran via Reading-Redhill-Tonbridge. It is possible that for operating convenience a special might follow the same route, particularly one where speed (such as it was then) would not be a priority.

EDIT: Ignore. If it was Eynsford, then it probably would be the West London line unless there was a complication, such as some passengers going via Newhaven. (Such things did happen.)

 

[MichaelAMW]

The station is Eynsford BTW.
Photos of Lourdes specials used to appear in the railway press, though I don't instantly recall the Red Cross on the side (the MoD definitely had such).
For a train starting at Birkenhead, the GW would certainly have been used as far as possible, not the LNW! I would guess it left the main line at North Pole Jn and changed engines at Kensington Olympia.

There was also a line direct from North Acton to the West London line around where White City station sits (Viaduct Junction??) - the track bed next to the Central Line is pretty clear if you look on the Google maps satellite views - so you could do what you describe without the need to cross the whole GWML on the level between Old Oak West and East. (North Pole Jct isn't on the main line: it's the junction where you would have joined the Willesden - Olympia line after leaving the GWML.)

 

[Gloster]

There was also a line direct from North Acton to the West London line around where White City station sits (Viaduct Junction??) - the track bed next to the Central Line is pretty clear if you look on the Google maps satellite views - so you could do what you describe without the need to cross the whole GWML on the level between Old Oak West and East. (North Pole Jct isn't on the main line: it's the junction where you would have joined the Willesden - Olympia line after leaving the GWML.)

That would have been possible or, if the train had come down via High Wycombe, preferable as the train wouldn’t need to go across the layout at Old Oak Common East and up the curve to North Pole. Nor would it have to go on to the LMR at Willesden. Alternatively, it could have come up via Reading or, if coming via Wycombe, run from Greenford to West Ealing and then across. All possible, but North Acton-Viaduct Junction would be preferable if still passed for passengers and open to traffic when the train passed. If it got to Eynsford around 20.00 it can’t have left Birkenhead much later than lunchtime.

 

[30907]

There was also a line direct from North Acton to the West London line around where White City station sits (Viaduct Junction??) - the track bed next to the Central Line is pretty clear if you look on the Google maps satellite views - so you could do what you describe without the need to cross the whole GWML on the level between Old Oak West and East. (North Pole Jct isn't on the main line: it's the junction where you would have joined the Willesden - Olympia line after leaving the GWML.)

Thanks. I knew about the direct line but for some reason thought it only connected with the GW main line.

North Acton-Viaduct Junction would be preferable if still passed for passengers and open to traffic when the train passed.

Still used by milk traffic which was passenger rated.

If it got to Eynsford around 20.00 it can’t have left Birkenhead much later than lunchtime.

The linked thread mentions a 12.40pm in 1951.
Like you, I wondered about the Redhill route - the WR could have worked the train through to Redhill, and the SR thence, as with the scheduled train. It would have been slower, and rather less convenient from a loco working point of view (LE back to Reading before it could be found a train North, and a Redhill N might not have managed such a heavy train thence, though it's an easy route...)

 

[Gloster]

Thanks. I knew about the direct line but for some reason thought it only connected with the GW main line.

Still used by milk traffic which was passenger rated.

The Viaduct Junction line passed under the Great Western mainline and did not connect with it at all. To get to it from the mainline you would have to use the curve from Hanwell to Drayton Green and that from Greenford South to East.

Even though milk traffic was passenger rated it did not, in itself, require the line to be maintained to passenger standards (Facing Point Locks, etc.). Think of all those branches in Devon, Cornwall and West Wales that had milk traffic into the seventies.

 

[6Gman]

I recently came across some information about a very unusual rail incident way back in 1958 and wondered whether anyone had any more details about it.

What I have found out so far is that on Friday 5th September 1958 rail services in Kent were badly disrupted by the most severe thunderstorm to affect the UK in the 20th century. This was no ordinary summer storm but a true American style "supercell", with flash flooding, cricket ball sized hailstones, and at least 2 damaging tornadoes, which was widely reported in the press at the time. Fast forward to Eynsham station in Kent at the height of the storm at approximately 20.00 that Friday evening, and a Birkenhead to Dover Marine Lourdes pilgrimage special is stopped on the down line due to fallen trees obstructing the track at Shoreham, and it remained stranded there for the next 8 hours. During that time local villagers kept the passengers and crew supplied with tea and sandwiches, and used connected garden hoses to replenish the tender when the loco ran low on water. Ultimately at 04.00 the train managed to get away. Apparently some of the coaches had red cross emblems painted on their sides.

The train had left Birkenhead Woodside that afternoon and I would be interested to know what route it took to Kent. I surmise that it would either have used the ex-GW via Shrewsbury, Birmingham, and the ex-GW&GC line, or gone via Crewe and the WCML, to reach the West London Line to get on to the SR at Clapham. Does anyone know the route for certain? The reference in a press report to red crosses on some of the rolling stock is intriguing: did BR have ambulance cars at that time? I would also be interested to know what kind of motive power this train had: I would assume a Bulleid light pacific on the SR but does anyone know for definite?

I know this is a very long shot but any help or further info would be much appreciated.

Route?
Almost certainly Birkenhead - GW via Shrewsbury, Birmingham Snow Hill, Banbury, High Wycombe, Kensington Olympia (loco change?), Clapham Jn, Brixton, Beckenham Jn, Chislehurst, Swanley, Eynsford, Maidstone East, Ashford. Though variations are available!
Stock?
The red crosses were probably linked to the stock being available for military use. Not sure when the last such coaches were used (I mean the specific ambulance coaches, not the Mk Is fitted for stretcher use) but I can remember them in the 1970s. So plenty in the 50s.
Motive power?
Halls Birkenhead-Kensington ; Light Pacific forward a real possibility, but maybe also something like a King Arthur, a Schools or a Standard 5MT. (Stewarts Lane had all of these in 1958)

 

[Czesziafan]

Thanks.
I have found the following from the pilgrimage organizers' site for the first special in 1951, and I presume the same timetable would have been followed in succeeding years.
"On Tuesday September 4th 1951 a train left Birkenhead Woodside at 12 40 p.m. with 360 pilgrims, stopping at Chester General and Crewe before arriving in Folkestone at 8 42 that evening. Tea and Dinner were served en route. The boat left Folkestone at 10 30 arriving in Boulogne at Midnight. The pilgrimage train left at 01 55 a.m. arriving in Lourdes at 6 00 p.m. with breakfast and lunch being served and making it a journey in total of some 30 hours."

So do you think the route would have been from Crewe to Shrewsbury then the GW to Kensington? I assume the Crewe stop was for the convenience of joining passengers rather than any operating reason.

As an aside the ship used in 1958 was reportedly the "Maid Of Orleans" a former SR vessel.

 

[Gloster]

Thanks.
I have found the following from the pilgrimage organizers' site for the first special in 1951, and I presume the same timetable would have been followed in succeeding years.
"On Tuesday September 4th 1951 a train left Birkenhead Woodside at 12 40 p.m. with 360 pilgrims, stopping at Chester General and Crewe before arriving in Folkestone at 8 42 that evening. Tea and Dinner were served en route. The boat left Folkestone at 10 30 arriving in Boulogne at Midnight. The pilgrimage train left at 01 55 a.m. arriving in Lourdes at 6 00 p.m. with breakfast and lunch being served and making it a journey in total of some 30 hours."

So do you think the route would have been from Crewe to Shrewsbury then the GW to Kensington? I assume the Crewe stop was for the convenience of joining passengers rather than any operating reason.

As an aside the ship used in 1958 was reportedly the "Maid Of Orleans" a former SR vessel.

If it stopped at Crewe it almost certainly continued down the West Coast Main line to Willesden and then along the West London line to the Southern Region. A loco change could have taken place at either Willesden or Kensington Olympia. Although the WR route would usually be the logical one for Birkenhead traffic, for historical reasons, once it had got to Crewe it was likely to remain on the LMR.

 

[Czesziafan]

Thanks.

So would I be right to assume a Black Five worked the WCML section? Seems logical for a special with all the more notable LMS classes tied up on other traffic.

 

[Gloster]

Thanks.

So would I be right to assume a Black Five worked the WCML section? Seems logical for a special with all the more notable LMS classes tied up on other traffic.

It is possible, but it is just as likely that they would put out a slightly larger loco, although probably not a pacific.

 

[30907]

Although the WR route would usually be the logical one for Birkenhead traffic, for historical reasons, once it had got to Crewe it was likely to remain on the LMR.

The Birkenhead line was historically a joint line anyway, and running via Crewe would have saved the reversal at Chester. Thanks to Czesziafan for digging further and saving us from a great way round

BTW, I wonder if commercial responsibility on the passenger side at Birkenhead was with the LMR? My wife's grandfather was GWR through and through, but worked at Birkenhead Green Lane and stated that operating staff were transferred to the LMS (not sure of the date but certainly pre nationalisation).

 

[Gloster]

The Birkenhead line was historically a joint line anyway, and running via Crewe would have saved the reversal at Chester. Thanks to Czesziafan for digging further and saving us from a great way round

BTW, I wonder if commercial responsibility on the passenger side at Birkenhead was with the LMR? My wife's grandfather was GWR through and through, but worked at Birkenhead Green Lane and stated that operating staff were transferred to the LMS (not sure of the date but certainly pre nationalisation).

My understanding is that there was an agreement that through traffic from the joint line to London went by the GWR unless otherwise requested. No doubt, in return for not pushing competition, the LNWR got preference for another traffic flow somewhere.

 

[30907]

My understanding is that there was an agreement that through traffic from the joint line to London went by the GWR unless otherwise requested. No doubt, in return for not pushing competition, the LNWR got preference for another traffic flow somewhere.

I thought the GW had all the Londons, but checking (1958 as usual) there were through coaches to Euston as well - I suppose the Wirral was difficult to access via Lime Street.

 

[Bevan Price]

It is possible, but it is just as likely that they would put out a slightly larger loco, although probably not a pacific.

A Black 5 seems most likely, although it was not unknown for Birkenhead to use 2-6-0s (Stanier or Fowler Crabs) on excursions.
A loco change at Crewe is also feasible.
Certainly little chance of a Pacific at Birkenhead Woodside - I suspect they were not allowed north of Chester.

On the Southern, it could be almost anything, dependent on the load. Maybe a Light Pacific, more likely a 4-6-0 (BR or SR), or even a "Schools" 4-4-0.

 

[Taunton]

My understanding is that there was an agreement that through traffic from the joint line to London went by the GWR unless otherwise requested. No doubt, in return for not pushing competition, the LNWR got preference for another traffic flow somewhere.

Not necessarily. The through coaches from New Brighton that worked once a day via West Kirby and Hooton went to Euston, attached at Hooton to a Woodside train to Euston.

 

[6Gman]

Given the Crewe stop then, yes, up the WCML I would say - loco change would probably be at Mitre Bridge Junction (just south of Willesden Junction).

Loco working may well have depended on the inward provision of coaching stock. (Bearing in mind the specialist stock involved)

 

[Czesziafan]

I have found out that the LMS converted 16 57' corridor thirds to ambulance cars at the outbreak of World War 2, and after the war the SR also converted 4 Maunsell "nondescript" coaches that were modified with 11 seats and 24 cots for the initial stage of the pilgrimage journey to Lourdes, which seem to have been restricted to internal SR metals. I can find no evidence that BR ever built or converted any standard stock as ambulance vehicles. So it seems likely that the ambulance coaches on the Birkenhead train would have been some of the ex-LMS vehicles. The LMS / BR(M) had quite a large volume of such traffic, including some from and to Ireland via Holyhead, so it would be logical for them to have kept at least some of the converted vehicles after the war.

 

[6Gman]

I have found out that the LMS converted 16 57' corridor thirds to ambulance cars at the outbreak of World War 2, and after the war the SR also converted 4 Maunsell "nondescript" coaches that were modified with 11 seats and 24 cots for the initial stage of the pilgrimage journey to Lourdes, which seem to have been restricted to internal SR metals. I can find no evidence that BR ever built or converted any standard stock as ambulance vehicles. So it seems likely that the ambulance coaches on the Birkenhead train would have been some of the ex-LMS vehicles. The LMS / BR(M) had quite a large volume of such traffic, including some from and to Ireland via Holyhead, so it would be logical for them to have kept at least some of the converted vehicles after the war.

I am annoyed that I cannot remember when I last saw ambulance cars in use. Pretty sure they were still around in the early 70s, but think they may have gone by the late 70s. Google doesn't help; just brings up loads of WWI and WWII stuff!

 

[Bevan Price]

I am annoyed that I cannot remember when I last saw ambulance cars in use. Pretty sure they were still around in the early 70s, but think they may have gone by the late 70s. Google doesn't help; just brings up loads of WWI and WWII stuff!

According to Jenkinson & Essery's book on LMS Coaches, well over 100 coaches were converted for various types of ambulance use. No withdrawal dates are given, but there are 1964 & 1965 photos of two of these (no longer used as ambulances). Many were converted from TOs, others from BTOs, BTKs and CKs; some were fitted with kitchens, others were just for personnel, or for medical materials.

Purely "Ward Cars" were numbered in the series 31700-55; "Brake/Ward Cars" were 31756-67.
"Ambulance/Kitchen Cars" were 31780-90 (or 91). Most seem to have been converted from "Fowler era" coaches of the 1920s and early 1930s.

 

[Czesziafan]

As to the date when ambulance cars were last in use I have checked the RCTS book The Coaching Stock of British Railways" published 1976 which does not list any ambulance or ward cars of any description extant on BR at that date. My guess is that the last few would have been withdrawn when BR had a major cull of non-standard and pre-nationalisation rolling stock in the late sixties.

 

[Dr_Paul]

There is a page-long description of the event in the Kent Weather Book (Westerham, 1991). It mentions the Lourdes pilgrims' train, and also that lines were blocked by landslides and floods between Mottingham and Dartford and between Tonbridge and Sevenoaks, and that Clockhouse station was flooded (but we'd expect that one, wouldn't we?). There were sink-holes appearing in streets and open spaces, pianos floated down the road in Gravesend, and two large oil tanks were ignited by lightning at Grain. I'll scan it when I get the opportunity. I find it rather amusing that a pilgrims' train to Lourdes was held up by what the insurers would call 'an act of God'.

Jenkins' British Railway Carriages, Volume 2, mentions that passenger carriages were converted into ambulance vans from the late 1930s, but adds that most were converted again into vans or full brakes afterwards as this was cheaper than either building new vans and full brakes or converting them back to passenger stock. Presumably not all were converted.