Accident at Connington September 1961 or 1960?

[barry]

I worked on the restaurant cars on the East Coast from 1958 until 1971 and during the summer of 1961 ( or maybe 1960)was on the Elizabethan the last year it was steam hauled. If my memory is correct in Sepetember on the last days of the summer timetable the last non-stop regular passenger service of the Elizabethan from KX was hauled by Mallard. On the return Saturday balancing service, with Newcastle stop, we were terminated at York due to an incident at Connington. Passengers were transfered to the up Scotsman and the train was diverted via Cambridge. The guard on this train informed me that there were over 1650 passengers on the train leaving York.

Can anyone help me with infomation about the accident I think A1 60114 WP Allen was involved and an A3.
Again with it being so long ago and with a memory that struggles to remember what I had for lunch yesterday I think it was a rear end collision following a loco failure on the up fast with a down train hitting the wreckage.
Sorry dates and details are vague but age does this to one but would appreciate any information.

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

I hope tis may help, although it relates to December 1961.

This item is a precise of a Report into the quadruple collision / accident at Conington in the Eastern Region of British Railways on 15th December 1961.

"A Class C (fully fitted) goods train had been signalled into the Up Goods line at Connington South. There was thick fog and the train was travelling at about 10 m.p.h. and was following a Class H (unfitted) goods train when, at a point just over a mile beyond Connington South, a Southbound E.C.S. train hauled by a Deltic diesel locomotive , which had also been signalled into the Goods line and was travelling at about 30 m.p.h., ran into its rear end.
As a result of the collision the brake van of the Class C train, the two wagons next to it and the leading wagon were derailed, and the brake van was thrown on to its side on the Up Main line, in which position it fouled the Down Main line. A few minutes later another Class C train, which was travelling at about 50 m.p.h. on the Northbound Main line, struck the brake van a glancing blow. The engine was turned on to its side and 32 wagons were derailed and were spread over both the Main Lines and the Northbound Goods line. Some minutes later still, yet another Class C train, which was travelling at about 35 m.p.h. on the Southbound Main line, ran into the wreckage. Its engine also came to rest on its side and the first 15 wagons were piled on top of one another and on top of the derailed wagons of the Northbound train to form a large heap of wreckage. which blocked all the four lines.
The guard of the Class C train on the Southbound Goods line was injured, and the driver and fireman of the Southbound E.C.S. train sustained bruises and suffered from shock. They were conveyed to hospital with the least possible delay. The driver and fireman were discharged on the following day and the guard was discharged two days later."

[giner]

Here ya go, barry.
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/events ... ventID=490

The RA site is the go-to oracle on this forum.

[JeffB]

The Deltic on the up train was Alycidon if I remember rightly. My mate and myself had to go and relieve on one of the engines on a breakdown crane. Pure chaos springs to mind. Took a 47 from the passenger loco to Connington, relieved the crew on a breakdown crane engine, and they returned the 47 back to the pass loco.

JB

[strang steel]

Sorry to be pedantic, but it is unlikely a 47 was available in December 1961 as D1500 did not enter traffic until September 1962.

[barry]

Have got both the December 1961 and the 1967 reports from RA but this accident was at the end of the summer timetable early september 60 or 61.Think it must have been 60 as the locos were steam one of which I think was WP Allen.

[52D]

Connington appears to be one of the places on the ECML that has had a few accidents in the same location, we hace discussed this before so you should get to the bottom of it in a couple of days.

[barry]

My sincere apologies but I did warn you that the little grey cells are no longer in good condition and have done further research and need to make an ammendment to my original post.
The date was 07/09/1962 and the location of the accident was Offord, Thanks for pointing out to me that there has been a number of incidents at Connington over years.
There does not seem to be any information or formal investigation about this accident although there was four persons injured. I am sure there must be something although nothing is available on RA. The A1 involved was I now know as 60123 H A Ivatt which at 13 years old was withdrawn from service and scrapped due to the damage it recieved in the accident. Any other information would be much appreciated.
Sorry again for the senior moments or was it the head injuries I sustained whilst going over the diamond crossing at Retford at a little over the line speed and me trying to negotiate a corridor tender whilst carrying the loco firemans tea can. This was a good excuse to get a footplate ride on a A4 and get out of the washing up in the resaurant car.

[JeffB]

Strang Steel, You might be right , I was sure it was a 47. I have been looking at some of my records, but the ink has faded and I cant read them now, just make out 01, so it might have been D5601. My mate was a George Whitham or Whitlam, the former I think.

[Mickey]

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[barry]

Thanks for that info Micky. I was a ballast guard and worked in and out of Connington tip for years and was treated to the ghost stories by the then resident signalmen which seemed to it change each time I went to the S/box. Thanks very much like your version though and thanks again.
I return to the accident at Offord and have a source which informs me that the down goods at Offord could be used under permissive block working and on the day in question 60123 entered the section and struck the rear of a train standing ahead of it.
Please don't shoot the messager but my source tells me the loco crew, who were Ardsley men, seemed to have the skill of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I say this because in the early hours of 19th November 1958 at Hitchin South two trains of coal empties managed to share the down fast and fouled the up fast. At this point our Ardsley me arrived on the up fast and joined the carnage hitting a L1 standing on the up slow. I am also told Ardsley men only had one job a day to London which in the light of things may have been a good thing.
Apologies to any 56b persons reading this.

[Mickey]

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[hq1hitchin]

Connington appears to be one of the places on the ECML that has had a few accidents in the same location, we hace discussed this before so you should get to the bottom of it in a couple of days.

CONNINGTON also had a 'haunted level crossing' right outside CONNINGTON NORTH s/box

Known locally as 'The crossing of death' (possibly after Connington north s/box was closed?)

Apparently the crossing was the scene of a number of fatalities in the past

Theres a story of a signalman hearing a car pull up outside the box and voices calling up to the signalman, on looking out of the s/box window there was 'no car or nobody' outside the box just the empty road?. Apparently there was a 'nasty incident' on the level crossing involving several people during WWII who arrived at the crossing in a car and got out of the car walked out on to the crossing and were killed by a passing train (Connington north box stood in open flat fenland for miles around)

Also seen was the widow dressed all in black and wearing a black veil standing at the crossing in the early hours of a misty morning at 5:00am and the 'headless' farm hand waiting to cross at the gates and then disappearing??

*** If you type in CONNINGTON NORTH s/box theres a great site with new pictures of s/boxes on the SANDY to ESSENDINE section of the G.N.R.

A load of cobblers, Micky and Barry - I heard all those tales as well - ghost cars, sound of footsteps coming towards the box during falling snow, only for no footprints to be visible when the signalman summoned up the courage to go towards the door have a look see, the church clock at Connington chiming 13 etc . An elaborate hoax by the regular blokes to keep the relief men away, at least those of a more nervous disposition

[Mickey]

Deleted

[thesignalman]

A load of cobblers, Micky and Barry - I heard all those tales as well - ghost cars, sound of footsteps coming towards the box during falling snow, only for no footprints to be visible when the signalman summoned up the courage to go towards the door have a look see, the church clock at Connington chiming 13 etc . An elaborate hoax by the regular blokes to keep the relief men away, at least those of a more nervous disposition

I know a lot of so-called ghosts can be dismissed or explained but that at Connington is documented and I, personally, think there is more to it than just a relief signalman's hoax.

http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/repor ... radata=166
refers to it:

Location: Conington (Cambridgeshire) - Railway junction (8m NE Peterborough)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 16 October, 4pm (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: 1948 saw the tragic death of Colonel Mellows, when he drove his car over the tracks only to be hit by a speeding train. Another explanation of the ghosts here says that a lorry of German POWs was hit during World War Two, and that one of these soldiers now haunts the area.

and from http://www.haunted-britain.com/Haunted_East_Anglia.htm

As the London-bound express trains thunder at ever increasing speeds past the Cambridgeshire village of Connington, they race over a tiny crossing, which a series of tragic accidents have endowed with such a sinister reputation, that it has been branded “the crossing of death”. In the 1940’s six German prisoners-of-war, were killed here when a light engine ploughed into the lorry in which they were travelling, early one foggy Monday morning. On 16th October 1948 Colonel A.H. Mellows was driving his black Chrysler car towards the crossing at around 5.30pm. His passenger, Mr A.F. Percival, got out of the car to open the gates. The colonel edged his car forward and drove straight into the path of a London-bound express. The train ploughed into his car, killing both he and his dog instantly. Colonel Mellows was buried with full Civic honours and his dog was subsequently laid to rest alongside the stretch of line where the accident had occurred.

Needless to say with such a dreadful reputation the crossing had soon acquired a reputation for being haunted. Signalmen, who were assigned the box at Connington, would often hear the sound of locked gates apparently being opened and closed. Sometimes they would catch ephemeral glimpses of a large black car approaching the crossing, which would have disappeared by the time they arrived to open the gates. The aptly named Mr Norman Jinks, who was in charge of the signal box throughout the 1960’s, frequently heard the distinctive sound of ghostly tyres crunching across the gravel although no car was ever visible. The signal box was removed in the 1970’s, ostensibly for technical rather than supernatural reasons. But people still avoid the “crossing of death” when nighttimes lengthening shadows stretch across the remote and windswept fens.

John