Great Northern Railway and London & North Western Railway Joint Line from Market Harborough to Bottesford and Saxondale via Melton Mowbray

Miscellany

On July 25^th 1892 the 1:53 pm ex Nottingham, bound for Northampton derailed and rolled down a 22 feet embankment 200 yards north of Melton Mowbray North station. Robert Herron, the driver and his fireman Henry (Harry) Pollard and a 14 Year old boy William Stone from Melton were killed. The locomotive, LNWR 2-4-0 1165 Vulture built at Crewe in 1878, was repaired and returned to service although it was one of the Precedents withdrawn before grouping. (Thanks to Michael Jack for correcting the above information).

Permanent-way men were slewing the line but the ganger had neglected to station a cautionary flagman and, also, did not advise the signalmen of what was taking place. The engine left the rails and ran on the ballasting for 50 yards and then fell over the side of the embankment, taking the eight carriages of the train with it.

Blame for the accident was put on the foreman ganger, it being his responsibility to take safety measures, despite the presence of an inspector, his superior. There is an element of unfairness in all this, there were only eight men altogether and if two had been detailed to act as flagmen the strength of the remainder of the gang would not have been sufficient to do the work. Implying that there must have been some responsibility on the part of the inspector.

The same train had experienced a fatality in the 1880's when the unfortunate Jimmy Carrington who was riding on the train struck his head on a bridge near Scalford. For many years the 1:53pm ex Nottingham was known as 'The Jimmy Carrington'.

GNR Bottesford - Newark

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