OTD - 12th January - not many notable rail events!

[whole diary]

[grahame]

After a flurry of things happening at start of the year, 12th January is one of those days in history that has been missed out by significant rail events!  As I write this (in the evening of 11th) I already have 383 entries in my "on this day" database - but it's patchy and there are still days to be resolved.  So from history today, I give you:

From 12th January 2009:

Government answers petition on redoubling the Cotswold line (here)
Single 153 running the St. Ives branch (here)
Daily signalling problems? (here)

From 12th January 2011:

Safety on the stairs in Reading (here)

From 12th January 2014:

Sea Wall damage - in South Wales! (here)

From 12th January 2020:

Another new fare from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) (here)

[grahame]

Putting us into context ...

The Minnie Pit disaster was a coal mining accident that took place on 12 January 1918 in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys died. The disaster, which was caused by an explosion due to firedamp, is the worst ever recorded in the North Staffordshire Coalfield. An official investigation never established what caused the ignition of flammable gases in the pit.

Haiti severely damaged by earthquake ... On this day in 2010, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, especially Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving more than 1,000,000 homeless and touching off a massive international relief effort.

[stuving]

The go-to historical event would be a railway accident, but the trouble is finding them. A search through all newspapers and all years for an event that happened on one day of the year is tricky. News is reported after the event, by several days for most newspapers (weeklies), and search engines have yet to reach the level of development needed to support such a search.

While looking, I did find a lot of them - in the 1870s some newspapers had a regular heading for a small down-page item of "serious railway accidents". There were hundreds like this sad little tale from the Bolton Evening News of Friday 14 January 1870:

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT - A pointsman, named Joseph Critchley, was killed on Wednesday morning, at Parkside, near Newton-le-Willows. He was on the line about five o'clock, when he was struck down by a train from the north. The deceased had been a pointsman  at this station of the old Liverpool and Manchester Railway ever since the line was established - 40 years.

The inquest took place two days later, as reported in Wigan Observer and District Advertiser on Saturday22 January 1870,

THE FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT - An inquest was held at the White Lion, Newton, on Friday, on the body of Joseph Critchley, a signalman employed on the London and North-Western Railway, at Parkside, and who was killed by a train under circumstances detailed in our columns last week. Deceased was 67 years of age, and it was stated that he was very deaf. A verdict of "accidental death" was returned.

[grahame]

The go-to historical event would be a railway accident, but the trouble is finding them. A search through all newspapers and all years for an event that happened on one day of the year is tricky.

Indeed - they are well spread through the days of the year, and that day is always part of the report.  But I am tying to avoid this series becoming "today's accident"

oh - if you want today's accident - from taproot

Press Release from the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Rail Accident Investigation Branch: Engineering train collision at Kitchen Hill, near Penrith, 12 January 2014

The RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) is carrying out a preliminary examination into a collision at Kitchen Hill, 3 miles north of Penrith station on the West Coast Main Line.

At 13:25 hrs on Sunday 12 January 2014, train 6L42 (comprised of 10 ballast wagons and a locomotive at each end) was travelling in a work site when it collided with the back of a stationary ballast train that was standing at the board marking the end of the work site. Train 6L42 was travelling at around 19 mph at the time of the impact. As a consequence of the collision, the buffers of the first wagon on train 6L42 overrode those on the leading locomotive; and the leading bogie of the wagon and the trailing bogie of the locomotive became derailed.

When the driver of train 6L42 saw that a collision was imminent he applied the emergency brake and jumped from his cab, sustaining serious injuries. The derailment caused damage to the track which required local repairs, and some limited damage to the rolling stock involved. 

[grahame]

The go-to historical event would be a railway accident, but the trouble is finding them. A search through all newspapers and all years for an event that happened on one day of the year is tricky. News is reported after the event, by several days for most newspapers (weeklies), and search engines have yet to reach the level of development needed to support such a search ...

Easy enough to scrape Wikipedia and filter it with a Python (and having had a morning of radio interviews, vet trips, webinars, bill paying and boiler repairs I felt like relaxing with some Python) script.   For today:

January 12, 1899 – United Kingdom – A London and North Western Railway express freight train derailed at Penmaenmawr, Caernarfonshire because the formation was washed away in a storm. Both locomotive crew were killed.

January 12, 1919 – United States – Genesee County, New York. The New York Central Southwestern Limited rammed the back of the Wolverine at South Byron. A Pullman sleeping car was pushed upward and fell on top of another Pullman sleeper, killing 22 people.

January 12, 1939 – British India – At Hazaribagh on the East Indian Railway, saboteurs remove a 36-foot (11 m) length of rail. The locomotive of the Dehra Dun Express from Howrah actually makes it across the gap and regains the rails, but the track is sufficiently damaged that the rest of the train is derailed, with 21 deaths and 71 injuries. A reward offer of 25,000 rupees fails to lead to a prosecution. This is one of 131 sabotage attempts against the railway in a 10-year period.

January 12, 1997 – Italy – A Pendolino train derails due to excessive speed just before Piacenza station, killing 8 people and injuring 29 others.

January 12, 2001 – Republic of the Congo – Nvoungouti: More than 30 people die when two trains collide because of a brake failure at Nvoungouti.

[grahame]

Ten years ago today - 12th January 2014

The boss of Teesside's biggest taxi company has revealed the firm will no longer transport disabled passengers following a row over pricing. - http://www.passenger.chat/13443

Alterations to services between Llanelli and Carmarthen - Damage to the sea wall at Pembrey following the storms at the end of last week has been repaired but further damage to the sea wall has been found at Ferryside. The line between Llanelli & Carmarthen will therefore remain closed until further notice.  - http://www.passenger.chat/13442

How many TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) can you remember - "Trying to remember which TOC tried to run Basingstoke to GEML^▸ (Great Eastern Main Line) it crossed my mind just how many TOCs have there been both current and dead?" - http://www.passenger.chat/13440