3-009-002 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the recent railway accident at Winchburgh, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, 1862. '...a collision on the Edinburgh and Glasgow line, near Winchburgh. station, twelve miles from Edinburgh...resulted in the deaths of eighteen persons, and terrible injuries to more than a hundred...At this place the up line of the rails is in course of renewal, and the traffic both ways has been carried for a time along the down line...It is supposed the disaster occurred through the mistake of a pointsman new to the duties, but the exact circumstances will not be known until the accident has been fully investigated. The Glasgow train...[and] the Edinburgh express-train...met with a fearful crash. Instantly the engines were thrown back upon each train, and the scattered carriages and engines were piled up together in horrible confusion...Upon the receipt of a telegram, several of the surgeons attached to the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh were sent out by special train, and preparations were made to receive the wounded at the infirmary...In many cases amputation of limbs had to be endured, some of the operations being performed near the scene of the accident, and other cases being sent to Edinburgh'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.