The Express.
London, England, 1864-08-16 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENTRAILWAY.—(I ON THE NORTH s
LONDON 'HIS DAY.)

lIIE DRIVER AND STONER SERIOUSLY INJURED.
shortly after nine o'clock this morning an acci-
nt s most alarming nature occurred to as exprem train,
:6u the Camden•road station of the North Loudon Rail-
which it is feared will be attended with loss of life in
...sot two cases. The escape of a large number of
~,,,nets who were in the train was almost miraculous.
rie following are the particulars of the occurrence as
xberwl upon the spot :
lc appears that the express train doe at Chalk Farm
w:iou at 9.30 this morning left the Fenchurch-strest ter-
..ni at the proper time, and proceeded safely on its
.;rots until it reached theCamden.road station, at the top

,n,;e-street, where the boiler of the engine—a very large
• lowerful owe—suddenly exploded with a violent shock,
or maw; it off the metals, cud against the massive brick
• oo the worth-east side of Randolph-street. which is
• ,o few yards of the Camden-road station. A large por-

...
t. of the reaseive brick work gave way, and the engine and
,„ kr a ere precipitated witha fearful crank into the street

you. felling from • height of 35 feet, and

- -
brnzlng with them in their fall math of the
,aping and brickwork. Here a most minion-
• cape of the pusengers and train took place. Immo-
upon the engine leaving the metals, and rushieg
ywnr.i. the brick wall, the coupling irons by which it was
ouched to the train of carriages fortunately supped, and
the triin was severed from the engine, which WM precipi-
atol into the street. The result wu that the frightful con.
~n,es which might have ensued if the train had been
drizz.l after the engine were happily averted, and none
passengers were injured, although they ware some-
ez.t
shaken by being so suddenly " brought up."
When the engine fell into the street, the ponderous mar
..,,chinety at once became a shapeless heap of twisted
an beat pieces of metal. Fortunately, there was no one
street below at the time or under the bridge.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
T motsiog the neighbourhood of Camden-town was
ma into a state of the most painful eseiternent first
r loud report, and secondly by a crash which shook the
io the immediate vicinity of the Camden-road station
: u.eir fooodstioe.

portion of the railway which crosses Rudolph-
inert. and over which the platform of the Camden-rood
it..t.on extends, is supported on iron pillar, with
vo.ilen girders, and it is about this point that the
tea trains to the City usually bring np their engines. The
Ea •ruing express, which stops at the Camden-road station,
an its way to the City, left Chalk Farm at its usual tims
and srrived at Camden•rosd a few minutes after. The
rapresa train, which was drama by one of Stothard,
•:aughter, aid Co.'s engines, manufactured at Bristol,
:a 1,11. and marked No. 4, was brought to a stand with
rte engise, just on the eastern side of the bridge referred
w. The passengers at the station had entered the
carriages, and the moment the driver, named John
Elis. turned on his Adam, he was startled
hearing a report in the firs-box like that of a retort or
and instantly jumped off. Before the unfortunate
at William Davis, had time to follow his example the
are-box exploded with a loud report. Tlie engine was
blown upward and forward high into the air, and descended
iirvioe with it • large portionof thestooe coping and buttress
of the brickwork of the bridge into Randolph-street below,
the greater portion, however, resting ora the enclosed
ground belonging to the North London Company. In
as descent the engine had turned completely round
and when it alighted on Osmond it was found that it had
embedded its nearside driving wheel completely in the
earth. The alarm of the passengers, who rushed frantioslly
from the carriages, may be better imagined than described.
They were seen running in every direction, and a great
anon it of confusion prevalled.The first object of the station-
master was to see if anyone was injured, and fortunately
owing to the direction the explosion had taken none of the
passengers were in the slightest degree hurt, nor was any
carriage in any way damaged. The poor stoker, Davis,
was, however, found lying in the six-foot space frightfully
mutilated and scalded. He was at once conveyed to Qui-
verrity College Hospital, sod it is not at all likely that
be will recover.

As soon as the coofnaion occasioned by the catastrophe
had somewhat subsided, Mr. Adams, the chief of the loco-
motive department, was on the spot with Mr. Anderson,
le.:motive foreman at Camden station of the :forth Western,
Mr. Mansell, the secretary, and other authorities, and
it was then discovered that the concussion bad some-
what shattered the wooden girders nupportiog the
bridge, but that the rails had been but little
if in any degree displaced. The force of the shock bad
broken the coupling between the engine acid the first car-
riage short off at the buffer plank. The chimney was
mashed and knocked over. One of the massive iron side
plates, bearing the number of the engine and the words
"North London Railway," was knocked off, and the
whole of the left side of the firebox was blown out.
Here would appear to have bees the seat of explosion
and cause of the disaster. As • proof that the engine
mounted high into the air and turned completely round in
her descent, it may be meetioned that the telegraph wires
of the station, which are some ten or fifteen feet above the
lice, were broken down and communication on that parti-
calm side of the line stopped. The passengers were placed
is another train and sent forward. So little damage was
done to the railway itself that in rather more than an hour
the traffic was resumed.

The koowledge of the occurrence spread so rapidly that
II: A few minutes hundreds were 90 the spot, and it required
tie aid of ■ strong force of the S division of police to keep
the crowds off the engine whilst it was yet steamiog away
atter it came over the railway.
The &anal cause of the explosion has not been ascer-
tained.