Hi jimen,
Thank you for an interesting question.
The first 2 sites listed give a detailed accounting of the accident.
The Gretna Green Train Crash
http://www.fettes.com/scotsatwar/printerv/gretnagreen.htm
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The Gretna Green Rail Disaster 22nd May 1915
http://www.laird.org.uk/Scots/Gretna_Green_Disaster_1915.htm
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The next 2 sites tell about the trial.
Quintinshill, Britain's worst rail disaster Gretna Green
http://www.visitsouthwestscotland.com/attractioninfo.asp?attractID=74
"Both signalmen were put on trial afterwards, as well as the fireman
of the local (who allegedly failed to protect his train). The latter
was found not guilty, but the signalmen were both committed to jail.
Curiously however, the sentences were thought controversial at the
time, perhaps because of the men?s previously unblemished record and
recognition of the burden of guilt they would carry till the end of
their lives, and both men were released early."
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Quintinshill
http://www.what-means.com/encyclopedia/Quintinshill
"Quintinshill, near Gretna Green in Scotland, was a passing loop on
the Caledonian Railway. On 22 May 1915, a distracted signalman's
forgot a stationary coal train waiting at his signals, leading to a
triple collision between a troop train, the coal train and, shortly
afterwards, an express train which ploughed into the wreckage. 200+
people died and 246 were injured - of the 500 soldiers of the 7th
Royal Scots on the troop train, only 60 made it to roll-call the next
morning. The disaster was made much worse by fire caused by wooden
carriages and gas lighting, and the troops were locked into the
carriages, a common practice in those days.
The accident took place at a change of shift, and the incoming and
outgoing signalman were cooking the books to hide this from their
superiors. If the signalman have merely forgotten the coal train on
the main line, here could have been excused on the "could have
happened to anyone" principle. The cooking of the books made the
offence culpable.
The signalmen, James Tinley and one other, were sentenced to three
years in prison for neglect of duties. Quintinshill is poorly known
because most of the victims were military and it occurred during the
First World War, but in terms of casualties and destruction it is by
far the worst rail disaster in British history."
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Gretna Disaster - List of those involved
http://www.forrestdale.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GretnaList.html
Scroll for list of Killed, Inured, and Safe
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Some pictures of the Memorial to the officers and men who died in the
Gretna Railway Disaster on 22 May 1915
http://www.forrestdale.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rosebank.html
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More information here: Scroll past the poem to photos
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/standard_bearer/gretna_rail_disaster.htm
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Best regards,
tlspiegel |
