News Archive for September 1852

Operating in Broad Gauge times on the Bristol and Exeter Railway on the 8th September 1852 a tragic derailment occurred killing two people and injuring many others.

Remarkably a detailed account of the incident still exists, with extracts located in newspapers from as far away as Scotland. We have included extracts from the Dumfries & Galloway Standard, Rynolds Newspaper (London) and Wells Journal. The extracts are shown as written in 1852 and make for some remarkable reading in the way the accident is both described and also reviewed by the authorities of the time.

A frightful accident occurred to the down express on this line on Wednesday afternoon, near Taunton. The train was going at the rate of about fifty-five miles an hour, when passing over a spot where the rails are sunk an inch or two below the level of the line, the engine ran off the rails and buried itself in the bank, crushing the stoker like a moth, and smashing the engine- driver and fireman in a horrible manner. The stoker, whose name is Thomas Humberstone, when dug out from under the engine, was quite dead.

Two other of the railway servants are injured; Lambert Heaton, the driver of engine No.20 has his left hand bruised so that amputation will be necessary; his chest was crushed, and it is feared that his ribs are broken, he later dies on Monday 13th. Joseph Tozer, traveling porter, has his thigh and leg broken. Judging from the appearance of the engine- driver, he is not likely to recover. The passengers escaped as by a miracle. The tender was hurled over the engine and laid on the top of it bottom upwards. The luggage van was poised on one end, and, while suspended in this position, the passenger carriages having become disengaged, passed by under the luggage van before it fell. The carriage next to the luggage van was smashed, but the passengers are said to have escaped without serious injury, except one gentleman, who was somewhat severely bruised. It is to be hoped that there will be a searching inquiry into the cause of the accident, or an effect of it.

The inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Thomas Humberstone, the stoker, who lost his life by the express train running off the line, on Wednesday, the 8th instant, was resumed at the Bell Inn, Creech, on Thursday morning, by Mr. Monkton, the coroner for the western division of the county of Somerset. The coroner said he had written to the Secretary of State, to request him to send a competent person to report his opinion as to the cause of the accident, and he received an answer to the effect that his communication had been referred to the Board of Trade. Mr, Cassell, the foreman of the jury, stated there was sufficient evidence before us to show that the portion of the line upon which the accident occurred is naturally defective in respect of a soft stratum upon which the rails are laid, particularly after wet weather. This ought to be remedied.

The jury unanimously recommends the attention of the engineers of the Bristol and Exeter Railway to the state of the substratum and packing of that portion of the said railway leading from the western terminus of the invert at Creech St. Michael.