Caption :- The Hawes Junction Chimney

Christmas Eve 1910 saw a dreadful accident on the Settle Carlisle Line. A night express train from London to Glasgow ploughed into the back of two light engines north of Hawes Junction. Twelve people died a terrible death as their wrecked train of wooden-bodied carriages lit by gas and with locked doors caught fire.

The Hawes Junction signalman forgot about the two engines on the main line when he accepted the Scotch Express, He pulled off his signal and the two engines, assuming it was theirs, moved slowly away. The express shot through the station and just north of Moorcock tunnel it caught up with them. The signalman knew what had happened when he told his colleague, 'Go tell Station Master Bunce that I have wrecked the Scotch Express'.

In the 1980s this chimney was found near Garsdale station. How did it get there, and where had it come from?

An old photograpgh provides a clue. It is of the lead engine involved in the accident and its chimney is missing. It is believed the engine was moved from the crash site to Garsdale where its chimney was knocked off before it was loaded on a wagon and moved to Carlisle. The chimney was removed so that it would fit under the bridges along the line. And there it lay undiscovered for 70 years.

The chimney was moved here in 2018 and is a memorial to those who lost their lives in one of Britain's worst railway accidents.



Media Reference :- DSC05947.jpg
Key Words :- chimney
Original Media Date :- 2 May 2023
Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa/4.0 - © Robert Mason - IHO

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