Sevenoaks railway accident

The derailed locomotive on its side.

Details
Date| 24 August 1927
17:30
Location| near Sevenoaks railway station
Country| England
Line| South Eastern Main Line
Cause| Derailment of locomotive
Statistics
Trains| 1
Deaths| 13
Injured| 21
List of UK rail accidents by year

The Sevenoaks railway accident occurred on 24 August 1927 between Dunton Green railway station and Sevenoaks railway station. The Southern Railway's afternoon express from Cannon Street to Deal left London at 5 pm, hauled by River Class tank engine No 800 River Cray. Several passengers later recounted that from time to time the train seemed to roll excessively on fast curves. As it passed through Pollhill Tunnel at 60 mph (97 km/h) the rocking became violent and the train derailed past Dunton Green railway station, where the line is in a cutting which is spanned by a bridge carrying Shoreham Lane. The cab of the locomotive struck the bridge and the engine was turned on its side across the cutting. The leading coaches piled up against it, killing 13 and injuring many more. Railway engineer Brigadier-General Archibald Jack was a survivor of the crash.

John Wallace Pringle, Chief Inspecting Officer of His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate conducted the inquiry in person.[1] Following the accident, the Southern Railway withdrew all the remaining 'River' class tank engines, which caused a public sensation at the time. Other drivers testified about the instability of the class and it emerged that one locomotive had previously derailed at speed, though it had re-railed itself. The engines' high centre of gravity, their hard springing, and the tendency for the water in the side tanks to surge, all caused the engines to roll dangerously at speed, so much so that in this accident the nearside wheels had lifted.

Trials carried out after the accident showed that the design behaved well when running at 85 mph on the Great Northern main line out of King's Cross, indicating that an indifferent permanent way was partly responsible for the instability of the locomotives. However, before the results of the trials had been published, all River class engines had been rebuilt, becoming the first 20 of the SR U class 2-6-0 tender engine design.

* Wrecked coaches against the bridge.

* Wrecked coach.

* The overturned locomotive.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Inspecting Officers (Railways)". steamindex.com. Pringle, (Sir) John Wallace. Retrieved 10 July 2011.

## Sources

[edit]

* Rolt, L.T.C.; Kichenside, Geoffrey (1982) [1955]. Red for Danger (4th ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 89–91\. ISBN 0-7153-8362-0.

## External links

[edit]

* Official report

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Railway accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom, 1900–1999

1900s|

* Slough (Jun 1900)
* Glasgow St Enoch (Jul 1903)
* Gomshall (Feb 1904)
* Hall Road (Jul 1905) ‡
* Witham (Sep 1905)
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1910s|

* Braunton Road (Jan 1910)
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* Hawes Junction (Dec 1910)
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* Chumhill (Feb 1913)
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* Burntisland (Apr 1914)
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* Weedon (Aug 1915)
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* Little Salkeld (Jan 1918)
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1920s|

* Littlehampton (Aug 1920)
* Abermule (Jan 1921)
* Birmingham New Street (Nov 1921)
* Birkenhead Park (Dec 1922)
* Retford (Feb 1923)
* Lytham (Nov 1924)
* Parkgate & Rawmarsh (Nov 1926)
* Hull Paragon (Feb 1927)
* Penistone (Feb 1927)
* Sevenoaks (Aug 1927)
* Darlington (Jun 1928) ‡
* London Bridge (Jul 1928)
* Glasgow Queen Street (Oct 1928)
* Charfield (Oct 1928)
* Combe Down Tunnel (Nov 1929)

1930s|

* Lawrence Hill (Jan 1930)
* Leighton Buzzard (Mar 1931)
* Raynes Park (May 1933)
* Winwick (Sep 1934)
* Welwyn Garden City (Jun 1935)
* Battersea Park (Apr 1937)
* Castlecary (Dec 1937) ‡
* Charing Cross (Mar 1938)
* Charing Cross (May 1938)

1940s|

* Bounds Green (Oct 1940)
* Balham (Oct 1940) ‡
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* Bank (Jan 1941) ‡
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* Bethnal Green (Mar 1943) ‡
* Catterick Bridge (Feb 1944)
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* Manchester Victoria (Dec 1947)
* Winsford (Apr 1948) ‡
* Stockport Viaduct (Nov 1948)
* Penmanshiel Tunnel (Jun 1949)

1950s|

* Penmaenmawr (Aug 1950)
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* Chapel-en-le-Frith (Feb 1957)
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1960s|

* Settle (Jan 1960)
* Severn Railway Bridge (Oct 1960)
* Royton (Feb 1961)
* Baschurch (Feb 1961)
* Singleton Bank (Jul 1961)
* Lincoln (Jun 1962)
* Coppenhall Junction (Dec 1962)
* Knowle & Dorridge (Aug 1963)
* Cheadle Hulme (May 1964)
* Coton Hill (Jan 1965)
* Winsford (Jun 1965)
* Stechford (Feb 1967)
* Connington South (Mar 1967)
* Thirsk (Jul 1967)
* Hither Green (Nov 1967) ‡
* Hixon (Jan 1968)
* Castlecary (Sep 1968)
* Marden (Jan 1969)
* Morpeth (May 1969)

1970s|

* Audenshaw Junction (May 1970)
* Sheerness-on-Sea (Feb 1971)
* Chester General (May 1972)
* Eltham Well Hall (Jun 1972)
* King's Cross & Euston (Sep 1973)
* Ealing (Dec 1973)
* Watford Junction (Jan 1975)
* Moorgate (Feb 1975) ‡
* Nuneaton (Jun 1975)
* Green Park (Oct 1975)
* West Ham (Mar 1976)
* Taunton (Jul 1978)
* Paisley Gilmour Street (Apr 1979)
* Invergowrie (Oct 1979)

1980s|

* Dunmurry (Jan 1980)
* Bushey (Feb 1980)
* Bushey (Apr 1980)
* Holborn (Jul 1980)
* Ulleskelf (Dec 1981)
* Seer Green (Dec 1981)
* Wrawby Junction (Dec 1983)
* Morpeth (Jun 1984)
* Polmont (Jul 1984)
* Wembley Central (Oct 1984)
* Oxford Circus (Nov 1984)
* Eccles (Dec 1984)
* Summit Tunnel (Dec 1984)
* Lockington (Jul 1986)
* Colwich (Sep 1986)
* Glanrhyd Bridge (Oct 1987)
* King's Cross (Nov 1987) ‡
* Clapham Junction (Dec 1988) ‡
* Purley (Mar 1989)
* Glasgow Bellgrove (Mar 1989)
* West Ealing (Aug 1989)

1990s|

* Stafford (Aug 1990)
* Cannon Street (Jan 1991)
* Victoria & Paddington (Feb 1991)
* Newton (Jul 1991)
* Severn Tunnel (Dec 1991)
* London Bridge (Feb 1992)
* Morpeth (Nov 1992)
* Maidstone East (Sep 1993)
* Greenock (Jun 1994)
* Morpeth (Jun 1994)
* Cowden (Oct 1994)
* Ais Gill (Jan 1995)
* Largs (Jul 1995)
* Stafford (Mar 1996)
* Watford (Aug 1996)
* Channel Tunnel (Nov 1996)
* Bexley (Feb 1997)
* Southall (Sep 1997)
* Spa Road Junction (Jan 1999)
* Winsford (Jun 1999)
* Ladbroke Grove (Oct 1999) ‡

‡ indicates railway accidents and incidents resulting in at least 20 fatalities
§ indicates the deadliest railway accident in British history
1815–1899 2000–present

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Railway accidents and incidents in the 1920s

1920|

* Rosmalen, the Netherlands (December)

1921|

* Abermule, Wales (26 January)
* Nidareid, Norway (18 September)
* Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, United States (5 December)

1922|

* Winslow, New Jersey, US (12 July)

1923|

* Ongarue, New Zealand (6 July)
* Glenrock, Wyoming, US (27 September)

1924|

* Lytham, England (3 November)

1925|

* Rockport, New Jersey, US (16 June)

1926|

* Virilla, Costa Rica (14 March)
* Voorschoten, Netherlands (9 September)
* Murulla, New South Wales, Australia (13 September)
* Orgreave, England (13 December)

1927|

* Hull, England (13 February)
* Alpatacal, Argentina (6 July)
* Sevenoaks, England (24 August)

1928|

* Darlington, England (28 June)
* New York, New York, US (24 August)
* Glasgow, Scotland (12 October)
* Charfield, England (13 October)

1910s 1930s

51°17′03″N 0°10′22″E﻿ / ﻿51.28404°N 0.17264°E﻿ / 51.28404; 0.17264
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