Eltham Well Hall rail crash

Eltham Well Hall rail crash
Details
Date	11 June 1972 21:35
Location	Eltham Well Hall
Country	England
Line	Bexleyheath Line (BR Southern Region)
Operator	British Rail
Incident type	Derailment caused by excessive speed
Cause	Driver's error
Statistics
Trains	1
Passengers	10 'well filled' coaches
Crew	3
Deaths	6 (5 Passengers, 1 crew)
Injured	126 (125 Passengers, 1 crew)
List of UK rail accidents by year

The Eltham Well Hall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 11 June 1972 at approximately 21:35. An excursion train from Margate to Kentish Town derailed on a sharp curve at Eltham Well Hall station, Eltham, London. The curve had a Maximum permitted speed to be taken at 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) but the train was estimated to have been travelling at 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) resulting in the locomotive and all but one of the ten carriages derailing.

The driver Robert Wilsdon and five passengers were killed, and 126 people were injured. At the subsequent public inquiry it was revealed that Wilsdon had been intoxicated by alcohol.

Robert Wilsdon

The driver of the Excursion train was Robert Wilsdon, a Driver for British Rail's Southern Region based at Hither Green TMD since December 1961. He had been working on the railways since the very end of 1958 and had was experienced to drive the British Rail Class 47 locomotive, which would occasionally come down from trains in other regions. Despite his experience and long time working on the railways, Wilsdon was not a stellar employee had been reprimanded five times throughout his career. Of these penalties, three were fairly minor isolated offenses (Unauthorized absence in October 1960, persistent lateness in February 1961 and a "relatively minor driving offence" in February 1963) but two were serious offenses, one of which resulting in a temporary suspension.

The first occurred on November 7th 1961 where Wilsdon had been charged £150 for being Drunk and disorderly, causing damage to a shop window and assaulting a Police constable whilst off-duty. Although Wilsdon paid the fine, British Rail were not notified of this occurrence until a colleague of Wilsdon's was similarly charged five days later and both men were subsequently suspended shortly afterwards, to which Wilsdon immediately appealed, claiming that the event was an isolated incident he was thoroughly ashamed of and that he had been celebrating a promotion to Passed Fireman with his colleague who greatly assisted him, later claiming to a representative from the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen that he would not drink again. ASLEF sided with Wilsdon and General Secretary William Evans sided with Wilsdon. Both Wilsdon and his colleague were reinstated on December 18th 1961, with Wilsdon being promoted to a Driver less than a week later on December 25th with his transfer to Hither Green. His colleague was similarly promoted but soon resigned in early 1963 after a series of reprimands and suspensions.

The Public inquiry into the accident eleven years later agreed that this incident was a seemingly isolated occurrance and had all the reason to believe Wilsdon, and the Line Manager who reinstated the two was not criticized for this approach, although some criticism was given to the Management in 1961 for promoting Wilsdon so quickly after being reinstated.

The second incident occurred on March 28th 1969 when Wilsdon was fined £1 for being drunk in Lewisham, similarly off-duty at the time, at which point again the railways were not informed of this occurrance until April, although he was not suspended at all for this incident owing to the fact that his Superior at Hither Green was extensively busy and then went on leave, and as such was not able to speak with Wilsdon until June, at which point he gave Wilsdon a stern reprimand and advised him that such behavior was not acceptable. The actions of the Superior for this incident were criticized as "unwise" but was not considered a serious failing and his eventual response to Wilsdon was appropriate and all that could have been done.

Since 1969, Wilsdon had a clear record and received no reprimands and was living in Rainham, Kent which meant he would usually have to make an almost two hour commute to Hither Green on the trains from Rainham. The travel distance between Rainham and Hither Green played a key role in the accident that occurred.

Events

Margate Excursions

On Sunday June 11 1972, it was arranged that the employees of British Rail's Midland Region based around Kentish Town and their families were to be given a day's trip to Margate, leaving in the morning and returning that evening. Owing to the large number of people wishing to travel to Margate, a pair of Excursion trains were arranged by the Midland Region to transport those to Margate and back. The trains would be driven by Southern Region drivers for some of their journey and after reaching Margate and being cleared of passengers, would then be taken onward to Ramsgate Depot where they would stored until the return trip. The outbound journeys were completed uneventfully and the trains were stabled at Ramsgate as planned.

The second excursion train, scheduled to leave Margate at 20:05 was to be crewed by Driver Wilsdon, Secondman P.E. Stokes and Guard H. Atterbury. Stokes was 18 years old and had been working on the railways for almost two years at the time of the accident, having been based at Hither Green this entire time. He had worked with Wilsdon occasionally before and had driven with him a few times prior. Guard Atterbury was 57 and had been a guard since 1948 and was based at London Bridge and although he had worked the Bexleyheath line before, he had not done so on a fast train before. He had worked with Wilsdon a few times before and considered him an experienced driver. Wilsdon and Stokes were to sign on duty at Hither Green in person by 15:42 to catch a travel as passengers to Ramsgate, transferring at Dartford.

The 20:05 Excursion train crewed by Wilsdon, Stokes and Atterbury consisted of a British Rail Class 47 locomotive, No.1630 from the Midland Region, and ten coaches; a Brake Second Corridor, a Second Corridor, a Composite Corridor, three more Second corridor's, another Composite, a Tourist Standard Open, another Second Corridor and another Brake Second Corridor at the rear. All of the coaches were Mark 1 rolling stock with the oldest coach dating back to 1954 and the newest coach dating to 1962.

Events prior to Wilsdon arriving at Ramsgate

As he did not need to be on duty until the afternoon, Wilsdon joined his two brothers for lunch at around 12:55, the three travelling to a local Pub where they stayed until 14:02 when the pub closed. In addition to his lunch, Wilsdon also drank two pints of Light and bitter and a half pint of Light ale which was confirmed by his two brothers who drank similarly. According to his brothers, the three returned home and spent the afternoon inside until Robert was driven by one of his brother's to Rainham station at around 17:15 and both confirmed that he had not drunk after leaving the pub and were adamant on this statement at the later public inquiry. However, this evidence was seemingly contradicted by a later statement made by Secondman Stokes when they met at Ramsgate, in which Wilsdon told Stokes that he had "ended up going somewhere and drinking some Sherry".

At 15:22, Wilsdon signed on duty with Hither Green by Telephone claiming that he was going to head directly to Ramsgate from Rainham and noted that he had to catch an earlier train from Rainham (The 15:32 instead of the 15:42, which was not running on Sunday's) and as such asked Hither Green if he could be considered on-duty from 15:12, which was agreed as there was no evidence to the contrary and it was believed that Wilsdon was traveling to Ramsgate at this time. In reality, Wilsdon did not leave for Rainham station until 17:15 and as such his move was solely to try and gain extra pay for two hours that he was not actually on duty, but this also meant that his Supervisors at Hither Green would not see him in person.

In contrast to this, Secondman Stokes arrived at Hither Green and signed on duty in person at around 15:12 and was instructed by the Supervisor to travel on the 15:32 train and try and meet Wilsdon on the train, although this did not occur, and the two met up at Ramsgate Depot by the Locomotive at around 18:25, with Stokes having arrived first having spoken with the Supervisor at Ramsgate for the identity of the train. Wilsdon did not meet with the Supervisor at Ramsgate likely owing to the fact that the Excursion was the only Class 47 engine at the depot and would have been easy to find.

Leaving for Margate

When Stokes boarded the engine, he was alone until around 18:25 when Wilsdon arrived at the train and spoke with Stokes about matters and preparing the train for the eventual journey back to London, although when Wilsdon turned to speak with him, he noted that he "smelt something pretty strong" on the driver's breath and when asked, Wilsdon explained that he had drunk at Lunchtime and later had some sherry prior to arriving in Ramsgate (Evidence that as noted above, contradicts that of Wilsdon's brothers who claimed that he had not drunk between 14:02 and 17:15). Despite this, Wilsdon suggested the pair go to the nearby Railway Staff Association Club at about 19:00 and get a drink to which Stokes agreed, with the pair arriving just in time for the club to open at 19:05, where the pair had three pints of light and bitter each with Wilsdon possibly drinking a half pint of light ale according to the evidence of two club staff who noted him seeing this, Stokes was uncertain but noted that "Bob could have gotten one in". Running slightly late and at Wilsdon's urging, the pair returning to Ramsgate Depot at around 19:40.

Guard Atterbury, who arrived at Ramsgate some hours earlier and had been relaxing in the Break room of the station, had gone to prepare the train for its departure at around 19:30 and initially noted that the engine crew were absent, but before he could go ask superiors as to where they were, he saw both Stokes and Wilsdon return, to which he briefed the pair on the train's particulars with Wilsdon seeming sober and perfectly routine. The Empty stock left Ramsgate and made an uneventful journey to Margate, arriving at around 19:59.

Margate

The Excursion train arrived at Margate routinely and entrainment of its passengers was carried out routinely, with all of its complement boarding by 20:04 at which point Stationmaster L. H. Arundell signaled the train was able to depart for London, but both he and Atterbury found that there was no response in the cab. When Arundell went to examine the cab, he found that the cab was empty and after returning shortly afterwards, found that a pair of Beer bottles were in the cab that had not been there when he first inspected the cab. Arundell merely believed that they were a gift by the organizers of the Excursion to the engine crew and did not question their appearance. Shortly thereafter, Wilsdon and Stokes returned and entered the cab preparing for departure, with neither seeming unusual and when Arundell told them to hurry up, Wilsdon calmly noted they could regain lost time on the journey. A Member of staff on the platform at this time noted that he had seen both Stokes and Wilsdon depart the locomotive and leave the station via Platform No.1 three minutes after having arrived at Margate and when this was later compared with the timings made by Guard Atterbury, who recorded a 20:13 departure from Margate (eight minutes late) noting that both Stokes and Wilsdon were absent. Exactly where the pair went in this period is unknown owing to Wilsdon's death and Stokes having little recollection of the events after leaving Ramsgate and although another pub was close to the station, it was considered that neither had the time to reach this pub.

The Journey

Having left Margate eight minutes late and scheduled to run non-stop aside from a later stop to change crew, Wilsdon was able to run the train at high speed, and according to Atterbury's timings, the train was only a minute late after passing Faversham (24 miles (39 km) from Margate). However, as the train approached Sittingbourne, the train was forced to stop due to signals briefly before it was held again momentarily around Rainham by Signalman F. D. Obee who had been forced to open his Level crossing to allow a pair of buses to proceed as the Excursion train was running late (Although Atterbury noted the train passed Rainham at 20:44, one minute late, Obee was described the train at 20:41 by Sittingbourne Signal Box, which was four minutes behind schedule). After the Crossing was cleared, he set the route for the train to proceed onwards but instead, the train came to a stop at the Platform.

Railman F.T. Fleming, who was on duty at the platform and knew Wilsdon well, saw the travel arrive and asked Wilsdon if the train had broken down (owing to the clear signal visible from the platform) to which Wilsdon merely said "No" and jumped from his cab before walking to a Telephone on the platform to speak with Obee, using the correct telephone and speaking quite clearly and not at all slurred according to both Fleming and Obee. According to Obee, Wilsdon had stopped at Rainham to inquire the position of the first excursion train, which Obee explained was to stop at Gillingham railway station and would let Wilsdon overtake it, which was not as planned (Wilsdon's train was to overtake the first excursion train at Newington railway station which was prior to Rainham) to which Wilsdon told him "you should read your weekly notices". Although uncertain, it seems that Wilsdon believed that the two stoppages that occurred to his train at Sittingbourne and Rainham and having not seen the first excursion train at Newington, believed that the first train was running slowly and kept stopping his train, he later commented to Stokes a joking complaint about the first excursion train, calling it a "Slow bastard". Upon completing his conversation, Wilsdon returned to his cab and departed having been stopped at Rainham for about four minutes. A Combination of the signal checks at Sittingbourne and Rainham and the unscheduled stop at Rainham had caused Wilson to lose most of the progress he had made between Margate and Sittingbourne. Shortly after leaving Rainham, Atterbury noted that the speed seemed "a little bit excessive" and that Wilsdon had been braking intensely between Gillingham and Chatham railway station.

The last station the Excursion train passed on its journey that Atterbury had to time was at Bexleyheath railway station 4.3 miles (6.9 km) east of the accident site. According to Atterbury's notes, the train passed through Bexleyheath at 21:31, seven minutes behind schedule (Estimates showed that Wilsdon had made up at least a minute and a half between Gillingham and Strood) and was running on clear signals.

The Crash

Although Atterbury had been somewhat concerned about the excessive speed made by the train between Gillingham and Chatham, he had no reason to be concerned regarding the speed of the train after that, and felt that Wilsdon had acted appropriately running through Dartford, but when the train neared Eltham Park railway station, he became concerned at the apparent speed the train was making as it neared Eltham Well Hall, where a sharp curve that would change the train's direction from heading southwest to heading northwest. Trying to gain Wilsdon's attention, he made two light applications of the brake (What he called "splashes"), but it seems that these splashes occurred both too late and were too small an application to have been registered in the locomotive, and as such, by the time the train approached Eltham Well Hall station it was running at around 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).

Railman R. T. Akehurst, who was on duty on the Platforms cleaning had been tidying the platform and had seen several earlier trains pass through the station and the curve, all of them slowing to the safe speed of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) but when he saw the Excursion train approaching, he was quite certain it was travelling far beyond that speed, and immediately he tried a desperate attempt to signal to the driver to stop. However, Akehurst was unable to gain the attention of Wilsdon and the train passed still at high speed without braking and the train raced into the curve at around 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), at this point none of the station staff on duty at Eltham Well Hall heard any sign of braking and Guard Atterbury had not seen a response on the brakes.

In the cab, Stokes later recalled that Wilsdon suddenly yelled "Fucking hell!" in horror at the sight of the curve approaching, to which Stokes immediately braced himself in the seconds that he had available. At no point had Wilsdon even attempted to slow his train beyond shutting off the engine (As was normal at this point on the line) and the train entered the curve.

Locomotive No.1630 was unable to remain on the sharp curve as the train began to round it and immediately rolled over onto its left side, leaving the track and sliding on its left side through a Coal yard with the front of the cab being torn open and debris being thrown into the cab, killing Wilsdon and severely injuring Stokes. The first coach followed the overturned locomotive but remained upright, the coupling to the Locomotive failing quite late into the sequence as the coach came to a stand laying parallel with the locomotive, having jacknifed and pushed it slightly around so the leading cab was facing back towards the line and the rear cab was pointing away from the track with the rear end of the first coach up against the leading cab.

The second and third coach were both severely damaged in the ensuing derailment and had followed the first coach until relatively late into the derailment, with the coupling between the first and second failing around the end of the derailment causing both coaches to overturn onto their right side with the leading end of the second coach coming to a stand in front of the locomotive and the rear of the first coach, which in combination with the fourth coach, formed a "N" shape out of the first four coaches. The Fourth coach had ended up roughly 90 degrees to the track leaning over on its left side, the rear of the coach had been somewhat damaged by the fifth, sixth and seventh coaches passing by it, derailed but still on the track, all three of these coaches were leaning over on their left sides to lessening degrees, with the leading end of the fifth coach having been badly damaged by the impact with the fourth coach. The eighth coach was upright but derailed, the ninth coach was derailed at its leading bogie but also upright and the tenth coach that Atterbury was riding in was upright and on the rails, though some internal damage had occurred.

The derailed train came to a halt very close to Eltham Well Hall Electrical sub-station powering the third-rail for Electric multiple unit trains and this had immediately been short-circuited by the derailment, with the circuit breakers opening at the moment of the derailment at 21:35. Railman Akehurst, who had heard the derailment, immediately called Dartford Signal Box and reported the derailment to the Signalman on duty who immediately called Emergency services, who arrived between 21:40 and 21:42. Wilsdon and two passengers died at the scene of the crash but a woman later died of her injuries in August and a male later died in November of his injuries, bringing the fatality number to five. Secondman Stokes was injured in addition to 125 other passengers and Guard Atterbury was uninjured.

Aftermath

A Public inquiry carried out into the cause of the accident was launched on June 12 1972 by Colonel John R.H. Robertson that looked into the cause of the derailment. The Report for the crash was released on June 1st 1973 and it quite clearly showed that the accident was caused entirely by the actions of Robert Wilsdon, in that he had "grossly impaired his ability to drive safely by drinking a considerable quantity of alcohol both before and after booking on duty". He was thoroughly criticizing of Wilsdon's behaviour, describing it as "reprehensible" and "disgraceful". His suspension in 1961 was considered a warning sign of Wilsdon's alcoholic tendencies but it was agreed that at the time there was no evidence to disprove Wilsdon's statements that he would better himself and not drink again. The 1969 incident also showed Wilsdon's disregard of what had occurred in 1961 but it was agreed that the Manager at the time had been unwise in waiting two months to question Wilsdon, but had acted appropriately when he did.

British Rail staff who came in contact with Wilsdon on June 11 (His Supervisor at Hither Green, Depot staff at Ramsgate, Secondman Stokes, Railway Club staff at Ramsgate, Guard Atterbury, Stationmaster Arundell and his staff at Margate, Railman Fleming and Signalman Obee at Rainham) were all intensively questioned and gave evidence at the inquiry regarding the state of Wilsdon, to which all agreed that Wilsdon appeared perfectly fit and sober even as late as his unscheduled stop in Rainham, with the only person aware of Wilsdon already having drunk alcohol prior to reaching Ramsgate being Secondman Stokes, who considered him still fit and sober enough to drive the train. None of the staff were criticized for failing to stop Wilsdon from his duties under the belief he was too drunk and evidence by Wilsdon's Father-in-law, Brothers and friends confirmed that although Wilsdon did drink heavily, he could "carry" his alcohol well and that the amount of alcohol he drunk was not enough to make his drunkenness visible, although the report believed that Wilsdon's actions at Rainham and his reactions at Eltham Well Hall clearly showed that he was beginning to suffer effects of drunkenness.

Secondman Stokes, who agreed with Wilsdon to get some extra drinks at Ramsgate was severely criticized for his "disgraceful" behaviour in drinking three pints prior to taking the train back to Margate, but it was agreed that Stokes' young age and weak character meant that he seemed unwilling to stop Wilsdon from going to get some drink. Guard Atterbury was not criticized whatsoever for his behaviour and it was considered unfortunate that his "splashes" were too weak to gain Wilsdon's attention.

From the evidence gained of Wilsdon's activities on June 11, a fairly thorough timeline of Wilsdon's movements were tracked and confirmed by those who he made contact with but three moments of uncertainty were later found in Wilsdon's movements that day. The first and most serious of these moments was the fact that it was uncertain what had occurred with Wilsdon and his Brother's between 14:02 and 17:15 with his Brothers both declaring that Wilsdon had not drunk after returning from the pub in Rainham. In contrast, Stokes claimed that Wilsdon mentioned drinking some sherry when they met at Ramsgate. Although Robertson could not confirm Stokes' statements, he considered it likely that Wilsdon had drunk after 14:02 owing to the smell on Wilsdon's breath at Rainham several hours later and whilst not explicitly accusing Wilsdon's brothers of lying, considered it that anybody who tried to hide evidence of Wilsdon's drinking that day "did him a disservice".

The second uncertain moment was what occurred to both him and Stokes during the stop at Margate, in which both seemingly left the station via the Platform No.1 entrance. Stokes was unable to recall much of what occurred at Margate and Wilsdon died, so it was uncertain as to what had occurred during this period, and although a pub was close to the station, it was considered that they did not have enough time to reach it.

The final uncertainty was the fact that when his body was Autopsied, Wilsdon's blood alcohol content was 0.278% (the legal limit for driving a road vehicle in England at that time was 0.08%). There was an imbalance with the urine alcohol level which made it very likely that the driver had also been drinking alcohol within an hour of his death, meaning it was possible he had been drinking at the controls. Investigating this theory, the morning after the accident, the cab was searched and three smashed glasses were found in the cab's wreckage. Two of them were the beer bottles that Stationmaster Arundell had seen at Margate and both were confirmed to have been unopened. A third smashed bottle found was later proven to have been a medicine bottle and was unlikely to have carried any alcohol at the time of the accident. The only other theory was that Wilsdon had obtained a bottle of spirits at some point, stored it on his person and had drunk it at some point after leaving Margate, and later disposed of the glass by throwing it out the window of the Locomotive, with the theory being that Wilsdon either obtained the bottle at some point whilst in Margate or had kept one on his person since he left Rainham for work. Despite this, Robertson felt that there was no severe issue with drinking amongst driver's on Britain's railways, with only two other accidents (One in 1913 and another in 1952) having occurred explicitly due to driver drunkenness in the sixty years prior to the accident, and as such he believed that it was a combination of railway staff's thoughts and self-discipline for drivers' behaviour with alcohol.

The last recommendation that Robertson made regarding the accident was the usage of telephone to sign on duty within the Southern Region. Whilst it was agreed that it was a fairly common occurrence in the Southern Region and British Rail had adopted a policy where certain drivers could be granted need to book on via Telephone (Typically those either living far from depots or those whose duties commenced far from their depots). This procedure was considered practical and was allowed to remain in use, but it was agreed that the method Wilsdon used (Where he casually booked on duty and for his own benefit of gaining two additional hours' pay by booking on at 15:22 instead of around 17:00 when he actually did leave home for work) was not appropriate and was to be stopped or prevented wherever possible. This issue was however was brought up again in 1991 after the Cannon Street station rail crash in which the driver in that instance was believed to have been high on Cannabis and caused a buffer-stop collision.

Although it was agreed that the signalling played no part in the collision, it was later agreed that the signals around Eltham Well Hall would be redesigned to slow a train to round the curve rather than remain at green, which would mean it would be less likely a Driver would be caught by surprise with the curve.

See also

• Morpeth rail crashes (UK) – several derailments on a sharp curve, one in 1984 possibly involving alcohol
• Malbone Street Wreck (US) – at least 93 fatalities in a 1918 derailment caused by excessive speed on a curve
• Rosedale train crash (Australia) – injuries only following a 2004 derailment caused by excessive speed on a curve
• Salisbury rail crash (UK) – an express train derailed and collided with a milk train in 1906 caused by excessive speed on a curve

External links

• Ministry of Transport; Col J.R.H. Robertson (1973). Railway accident : Report on the Derailment that occurred on 11 June 1972 at Eltham (Well Hall) Station in the Southern Region, British Railways (PDF). HMSO. ISBN 0-11-550303-X.
• "Railway Accident, Eltham". Hansard. Parliament.uk. 12 June 1972. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
• "UK Eltham train crash". AP Archive. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
• Images of the accident (approximately halfway down the page)