The LNER Encyclopedia

Hello,
During the General Strike in 1926 a train was derailed at Cramlington in Northumberland by the local miners.Some reports state it was the Flying Scotsman and others say it was the Merry Hampton.Can anyone confirm which one it was?

Steve

Merry Hampton an unlucky loco
unlucky-locos-t1886.html

Thanks for the reply.This has been puzzling me for a while now because there are quite a few books etc that state it was the Flying Scotsman that was derailed.According to a book I read the Merry Hampton was hauling the Flying Scotsman but the Flying Scotsman was not involved in the derailment,so where was it and how has this story came about?

Steve

There is/was a Flying Scotsman train and a Flying Scotsman locomotive. The locomotive was not involved, it was the train, the loco was Merry Hampton. A book was recently published, Let no Wheels Turn by Margaret Hutcherson. It is more of a social history of the events leading up to and after the event.

So it was the coaches that were the Flying Scotsman,I bet not many of the reports stated that,probably the government of the time allowing it to be reported as the Flying Scotsman in an attempt to blacken the strikers cause.Thanks for clearing that up.

Steve

Or just as likely the constant confusion between the locomotive Flying Scotsman and the train called The Flying Scotsman. It's a confusion that still flourishes to this day.

rwethereyet wrote:So it was the coaches that were the Flying Scotsman,I bet not many of the reports stated that,probably the government of the time allowing it to be reported as the Flying Scotsman in an attempt to blacken the strikers cause.Thanks for clearing that up.

At the time it was the train that carried the headlines. The loco was just another A1 until, that is, it was preserved and got its own PR industry going.

Bill Bedford wrote:

rwethereyet wrote:So it was the coaches that were the Flying Scotsman,I bet not many of the reports stated that,probably the government of the time allowing it to be reported as the Flying Scotsman in an attempt to blacken the strikers cause.Thanks for clearing that up.

At the time it was the train that carried the headlines. The loco was just another A1 until, that is, it was preserved and got its own PR industry going.

If I could point something out...

This derailment took place in 1926 - two years before the engine and train combined made the non-stop run with the corridor tender to Edinburgh. You are both correct that the locomotive was not the target for the attack nor was it famous at the time of the accident, but I take umbrage with the notion that the engine became famous simply through preservation and PR doctrines.

First non-stop run, London-Edinburgh? (1928)

First authenticated 100mph in this country? (1934)

Doubtless that both it, the record holder and Papyrus, the record breaker, should both have been preserved, be it privately or the fledging NRM: that we have Sir Alan Pegler to thank for Scotsmans' existence is both a blessing and a stain on the NRM's history that it wasn't on that preserved engines list in the first place.

On topic, and that photograph of Merry Hampton is rather haunting. What were the reasons behind the derailment? I understand from the OP that it was a result of a miner's stike, but what was the event that caused the ill feeling and led to the deliberate derailment?

Wasn't it part of the General Strike of that year? There was immense industrial unrest and bad feeling against employers, the Government and (IIRC) Winston Churchill specifically. I've recently read something on one of the groups I'm in about a driver who broke the strike in 1926 and was still called 'scab' in the 1950s.

In this specific instance I believe striking miners removed one or more lengths of rail with the intent of causing an accident.

That's OTTOMH - I'm off to read up in Wikipedia now.

I think Bill has a valid point above - although 'celebrity' locomotives were much more generally well known than today, 4472 was no more famous at that time than 'Papyrus', 'Great Northern' or, later, 'Silver Link' or 'Cock o'the North'. The 10 o'clock to Edinburgh had been the Flying Scotsman for many years before 1472/4472 was named.

Edit: Accident report here : http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docume ... on1926.pdf

Bill Bedford wrote: The loco was just another A1 until, that is, it was preserved and got its own PR industry going.

Similar to Tornado of today then

Hi,
Thanks all,as you might gather i know little about trains etc but have learned alot from your comments.I was only interested in this from a local history point of view and the accident report was interesting reading as i have not seen that before.The local pitmen thought they might be stopping a coal train at the time.As 'giner' said there is confusion on this subject because most people think it was the Flying Scotsman loco that was derailed.