Thorpe rail accident

{{Short description|1874 train crash in Norfolk, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox public transit accident | name = Thorpe rail accident | date = 10 September 1874 | time = 21:45 | location = [[Thorpe St Andrew]], [[Norfolk]] | country = England | line = [[Norfolk Railway]] | cause = Single-line telegraphic working error  | trains = 2 | passengers = | crew = | pedestrians = | deaths = 25 | injuries = 75 | footnotes = [[List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom|List of UK rail accidents by year]] }} The '''Thorpe rail accident''' occurred on 10 September 1874 when two trains were involved in a head-on collision near [[Thorpe St Andrew]], [[Norfolk]], England.<ref> {{cite book | title = Red for Danger | last = Rolt | first = L. T. C. | authorlink = L. T. C. Rolt | author2=Kichenside, Geoffrey | edition = 4th | year = 1986 | publisher = Pan Books | isbn = 0-330-29189-0 }}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web | last = Tyler | first = Col. H. W. | title = Report of the Court of Enquiry | date = 30 September 1874 | publisher = HMSO | url = https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_Norwich1874.pdf | accessdate = 2008-11-09}}</ref>

The accident occurred on what was then a single-track rail line between [[Norwich railway station|Norwich Thorpe]] and {{stnlnk|Brundall}}. The two trains involved were the 20:40 mail from [[Great Yarmouth railway station|Yarmouth Vauxhall]] and the 17:00 express from London to Yarmouth. The latter had left Norwich Thorpe at 21:30 and would normally have had a clear run on its way to Yarmouth, since the mail train should have been held on a loop line at Brundall to allow the express to pass. On this occasion trains were running late.

In such circumstances, when the timetable could not be kept, drivers had to have written authority to proceed further. Due to a series of errors (primarily, the telegraph clerk sending the authorisation message before it had been signed by the appropriate official), both drivers received their authority, and anxious to make up for lost time, set off at speed along the single track. The accident, when it occurred around 21:45, resulted in both locomotives rearing into the air, and carriages reduced to wreckage.

Both drivers and firemen were killed, as were seventeen passengers, with four later dying from their injuries.<ref name="DerailWhy">''Derail: Why Trains Crash'' by Nicholas Faith, page 44, publ 2000 by [[Channel 4]] books, {{ISBN|0-7522-7165-2}}</ref> Seventy-three passengers and two railway guards were seriously injured. [[File:John Prior and James Light Rosary Cemetery Norwich.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Graves of mail train driver John Prior and fireman James Light in [[Rosary Cemetery, Norwich]]]] [[File:Site of thorpe railway collision 1874.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Sketch map from 1874 Board of Trade report (detail)]]

Prompted by the accident, engineer Edward Tyer developed the [[Tyer's Electric Train Tablet|tablet system]] in which a token is given to the train driver; this must be slotted into an electric interlocking device at the other end of the single-track section before another train is allowed to pass.<ref name="DerailWhy" />

== Similar accidents == The [[Canoe River train crash]] in Canada in 1950 also involved two trains, controlled by telegraphed orders, authorized to enter the same single-track section in opposite directions.

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/ind_rev/iln/accident.htm#norwich Illustrated London News report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210181725/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/ind_rev/iln/accident.htm#norwich |date=10 December 2019 }} *[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0138q82 History feature on the disaster] by [[BBC Radio Norfolk]] *[https://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/blog/2014/09/the-thorpe-railway-disaster-1874/ Broadland Memories]

{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1815–1899|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe Rail Accident}} [[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Norfolk]] [[Category:History of Norwich]] [[Category:Railway accidents in 1874]] [[Category:1874 in England]] [[Category:Train collisions in England]] [[Category:Transport in Norwich]] [[Category:19th century in Norfolk]] [[Category:1870s disasters in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:1874 disasters]]