2-981-827 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Railway Accident at Abbotts Ripton, near Huntingdon: working parties removing the injured, from a sketch by Mr. Gompertz, a passenger, 1876. On 21 January 1876, the Edinburgh-London Special Scotch Express was involved in a collision, during a blizzard, with a coal train on the Great Northern Railway main line. A second collision occurred minutes later when an express to Leeds crashed into the wreckage obstructing the northbound line. Thirteen passengers died, and 53 passengers and 6 traincrew members were injured. Factors included signal failure, bad weather and poor visibility. Snow and ice on the wires by which the semaphore arm should be moved had meant that when signalmen had changed levers from the normal 'all clear', the signals did not fully move to 'danger'. The accident (and subsequent inquiry) led to fundamental changes in British railway signalling practice. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.