Musselburgh Accident on New Years Day 1941
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:12 pm
On 1st January 1941 a southbound goods train on the mainline was diverted on to the Musselburgh branch at Newhailes Junction, carried on down the branch and crashed through the buffer stops at Musselburgh Station, demolishing the bookstall, killing the 19 year old attendant and finishing with the front of the engine protruding into the street.
I was brought up in Musselburgh and occasionally heard this accident referred to but until I was able to download the newspaper report from the 'Scotsman' recently I had no details. A public inquiry was held two months later where it was ruled that 'it is impossible to answer with complete clarity the cause of the disaster and who is to blame' which seems somewhat vague. The driver was a Tweedmouth man who claimed the Newhailes distant was off but admitted not seeing the home signal and stated that the train just skidded (for a mile!) once he braked realising he was on the branch. (There was a level crossing just before the station, did he crash through this?)
Does anyone know if there was an accident report for this event, I have contacted the Railways Archive without success. One would have thought there would be an accident report when there was a fatality?
I was brought up in Musselburgh and occasionally heard this accident referred to but until I was able to download the newspaper report from the 'Scotsman' recently I had no details. A public inquiry was held two months later where it was ruled that 'it is impossible to answer with complete clarity the cause of the disaster and who is to blame' which seems somewhat vague. The driver was a Tweedmouth man who claimed the Newhailes distant was off but admitted not seeing the home signal and stated that the train just skidded (for a mile!) once he braked realising he was on the branch. (There was a level crossing just before the station, did he crash through this?)
Does anyone know if there was an accident report for this event, I have contacted the Railways Archive without success. One would have thought there would be an accident report when there was a fatality?