Quintinshill near Gretna Green |
Quintinshill - Track layout |
Quintinshill - Signal Box |
On the morning of the 22nd May a troop train containing half of the 1st / 7th (Leigh) Battalion Royal Scots, 498 men, left Larbert Station, Stirlingshire en route to Liverpool to board a troop train. The Battalion were Territorials, mobilised in 1914, and were on their way to join the fighting in Gallipoli.
Caledonian Railway McIntosh 4-4-0 no 121 Locomotive headed the troop train to Liverpool. |
To ensure they were not delayed, a goods train had been routed into the up line passing loop (northbound) whilst an empty coal wagon special has been routed into the down line passing loop (southbound), thus both passing loops were occupied.
At 06:17 a local train proceeding north from Carlisle arrived in Quintinshill which needed to be held there in order to allow the passage of a north bound express train. With both passing loops occupied, the signal man had no choice other than to shunt the train onto the southbound line, hold it there and allow the express to pass. It would however block the passage of the south bound troop train.
Quintinshill - North bound local train |
Quintinshill - Local Train on Southbound mainline |
Quintinshill - 22nd May 1915 |
On the morning in question, George Meakin, who had worked the night shift, was relived by James Tinsley who had just arrived on the local train which had been shunted onto the southbound line. As well as the breach of regulations on the handover, the firemen from the trains held were in the signal box which could have been distracting to Tinsley. A further breach of rules had taken place as the firemen from the local train should have checked that a collar had been placed over the signal lever which controlled the entry into the Quintinshill sector, physically stopping the signal at the beginning of the sector being set to clear, thus protecting the train on the southbound line.
Although having just arrived on the local train, possibly distracted by updating the train register and the firemen in the signal box, Tinsley accepted a signal to receive the troop train into the Quintinshill sector on the south bound line blocked by the stationary local train.
Four minutes later, he accepted a northbound express onto the clear north bound line.
Quintinshill - situation 06:49 22nd May 1915 |
At 06:49 22nd May 1915 the troop train containing the 1/7th Royal Scots collided head on with the stationary local train.
Quintinshill Rail Disaster Sequence of events 22n May 1915 By Emoscopes, Tevildo [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Quintinshill Rail Disaster 22nd May 1915 |
Quintinshill Rail Disaster 22nd May 1915 |
Quintinshill Rail Disaster CO 1/7th Royal Scots musters the 64 unscathed survivors |
QUINTINSHILL MEMORIAL
Quintinshill Memorial Plaque |