The Elswick Accident of September 1909

[61070]

This topic stems from a 'mystery photo' posted by 52A in January - see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1980 - which showed a locomotive being recovered from a hole beneath track level by two steam cranes. The combined efforts of many people, after months of fascinating conjecture, resulted in the identification of the photo as the recovery of NER 4-6-0 No.2115 following a collision and derailment at Elswick, in the west end of Newcastle.

Since the photo was identified I've been following up with some more research and, as this is no longer a mystery photo, I've posted it as a new subject. This accident appears not to have been the subject of a Board of Trade Railway Inspector's Inquiry and Report, for reasons that remain unclear at present. There was an 'H.M. Inspector', a Mr Lauder, at part of the inquest into the death of one of the footplate crew but he was a Tyneside-based Factory Inspector, not a member of the Railway Inspectorate.

Attached to this and the following post are eight more photos of the accident that have turned up. Three are from the Ken Hoole Archive, and they show the scene after the N&C line had been cleared of debris (including the industrial locomotive with which 2115 had collided – it had been pushed through the partly-demolished stone wall on the left) but before the derailed locomotive and its train had been recovered. There are also five photos from a private collection which advertises on Ebay.

Looking back though the discussion there are some brilliant minds at work on this forum. One of Bryan's knowledgeable crane experts said

'The loco seems to have fallen into some kind of hole, or run onto a structure of inadequate strength…'.

Looking at the second photo now it's clear that's just what happened, as the loco has fallen into a coal drop following the collision.

I am posting low res versions with permission; good quality prints of all the pictures can be obtained from the sources quoted.

[61070]

Second set of photos.

These five photos are from the Keasbury Gordon archive at http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/The-Keasb ... ZQQ_sasiZ1 . They had one of the pictures on their ebay shop, but it was wrongly described as showing an accident at Darlington in 1910 which also involved No.2115. Having been in contact with them to correct this I asked if they had any more – and the other four are the result. I bought full-size photos and they are really good quality.

Does this aid the identification of the two cranes? I think it was pretty much concluded that they are two of three Craven 25-ton steam cranes bought new by the NER in 1907. One of the three is now at the NRM I think (NER CME 13), but I don't believe we know yet which two of the three are in the photo? I guess instead of 'What Loco?', as in the title of the original thread, it's now 'What Cranes?'!

[52D]

As a collaborator with 61070 and 52A i would like to add that this has been a fascinating piece of detective work.
I would also like to add this footnote. The identity of the Industrial 0-4-0 involved in the accident was Elswick No9, outside cylinder Hunslet 0-4-0ST HL2106 of 1888. It was not written off but was later sold to Baird & Stevenson (Quarrymasters) Ltd, Locharbridge, Dumfriesshire. No later information as to its final fate yet.

[52A]

I didn't foresee the amount of interest this battered old photo would create on the forum, I hope everyone enjoyed the many comments and eventual solution to the riddle. I would like to pay a tribute to everyone involved, especially 52D and 61070, you did a marvellous job. The depth of knowledge on this forum is amazing, keep up the good work everyone.

[B4411]

As one of the people you have kindly refered to in the dscussions concerning this incident as "breakdown crane experts" I must congratulate all concerned with the detective work that has gone into this fascinating research.

Given good copies of the photos it may well be posible to identify the two cranes involved with certainty and I will order up a set of the Keasbury-Gordon photos to see what we can determine.

[61070]

B4411 - thanks for coming in on this. Although you won't find the four 'new' photos of the accident on the K-G ebay shop, you can ask for them by emailing the archive. My enquiries were dealt with by a chap called Andrew (I think he's the proprietor) and he really was most helpful, specially scanning those four additional images for me and supplying the prints quickly. I asked him if they would be on the site alongside the picture that's been there for a while, but he said he wasn't intending to do this as he thought demand would be limited.

I'm fascinated by the step-by-step view of the recovery operation provided by the five photos. It must have been some task, the loco being quite a distance from the cranes, on its side and tangled up in the coal drop structure. Looking at how they are working the cranes and slinging if, at least in the early stages, one of the lifts had given way I reckon the other crane could easily have toppled. Perhaps they followed up with packing underneath the loco, just in case. Breakdown crews were (are) unsung heros I think.

Finally just a minor correction to a typo in 52D's post - the quarry in Dumfriesshire is Locharbriggs (ie not -bridge), a source of durable red sandstone widely used since the 1890s for facing buildings.

[52A]

That is the best I can do from my original photo.

It would appear that the crane is Gateshead Steam Crane?.

Works plate Cravens 1907 Manchester??

[B4411]

If anyone is interested, there is further information plus a number of very interesting maps and photos of the area where this accident occurred on the excellent Subterranea Britannica "Disused Stations" website. The link below is for Scotswood Works Halt (which I suspect was very close to the site indeed), but from this page there are further links to Elswick and Scotswood Stations.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stat ... ndex.shtml

The area has certainly changed completely beyond recognition in he last 100 years - symptomatic of the demise of the British heavy manufacturing industry, I suppose!

[61070]

B4411 - many thanks for finding and recommending the references on the Subterranea Britannica website; I hadn't discovered them and they are very interesting.

Scotswood Works Halt was quite close to where the accident happened, but Elswick station was closer - the derailment was about 500 yards east of that station. The photograph of Elswick station on the above website is of particular interest because it's approximately contemporary with the accident, and a newspaper report of the inquest tells us that one of the footplate crew ran to Elswick station to summon assistance after the crash.

You are right that the landscape of the Elswick and Scotswood area has changed radically. The accident site is near northern boundary of the current Newcastle Business Park. The attached image gives as accurate a location as I can achieve for the accident on a modern-day Google Earth image of the area (River Tyne at the bottom left). The gradually tapering belt of trees immediately adjacent to the road, widening to the left and upwards, is, I think, on the former N&C railway alignment. The area of trees just north of the buildings are on the Elswick Works site, as are the buildings and the car parks.

[61070]

That is the best I can do from my original photo.

It would appear that the crane is Gateshead Steam Crane?.

I've recently seen some photographs of a crane and an associated 'runner' wagon (is that the correct term?) which both have, very clearly, 'GATESHEAD // STEAM SHED' (ie in two lines) painted on them. It's definitely not the same type of crane though - it has a fully plate girder jib, not a partially lattice jib like those seen in the Elswick recovery. The pictures are in Tyne & Wear Archives and they are unpublished as far as I know. Some of the photos show the clearing of the line following the Felling accident of 1907.

[B4411]

I've recently seen some photographs of a crane and an associated 'runner' wagon (is that the correct term?) which both have, very clearly, 'GATESHEAD // STEAM SHED' (ie in two lines) painted on them. It's definitely not the same type of crane though - it has a fully plate girder jib, not a partially lattice jib like those seen in the Elswick recovery. The pictures are in Tyne & Wear Archives and they are unpublished as far as I know. Some of the photos show the clearing of the line following the Felling accident of 1907.

It is hard to be certain without seeing the photos, but this is probably CME 1, a Cowans Sheldon 15 ton 'standard Mark 1' crane supplied in 1893 to the NER under works number 1858.

It is likely that this crane was allocated to Gateshead from 1893 to 1914, when it was tranferred to the WD and subsequently seems to have vanished - it certainly never re-appeared on the British railway network.

It is also one of the two cranes used after the Darlington Top Bank accident in 1910 that was mentioned earlier in the discussion about Elswick.

Of the three Cravens cranes which are canditates for the Elswick clear-up we now know that CME12 was at the time allocated to Darlington, and CME13 and CME14 were at York and Gateshead but it is not certain which of these two was where. From a purely geographical point of view, therefore, it is likely that the Gateshead and Darlington cranes would have been used, so CME12 plus whichever of the others was at Gateshead. Hopefully when the KGA images arrive it will be possible to resolve the York/Gateshead question with a positive ID.

[52D]

61070 have you added the info to google Earth, I think it would be a good idea and might stimulate more discussion.

[61070]

52D - I haven't ever added anything to Google Earth before - but I'll have a go!

[52A]

A little more about John Shilladay (or Shilliday, or Shillady, spelling was rather arbitrary in those days).

John Shilladay was born in 1872 at Carlisle the son of a railway passenger guard. His father was Irish and his mother Scottish, he had 9 brothers and sisters. By 1891 he was a railway fireman at Carlisle and by 1901 had been married, had 3 children and moved to Gateshead as a fireman. When he was tragically killed at Elswick in 1909 he left a son and 4 daughters.

[52D]

Baird & Stevenson(Quarrymasters)Ltd supplied the LNER with the red sandstone used during the reconstruction of Berwick Station during 1924. (See note on Industrial loco involved in the Elswick crash above).