The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-15 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 15, 1866.

SERIOUS AccrraNr ON THE LONDON,
CHATHAM, ANO DOVER RAILWAY.

Yesterday morning an accident of an alarming
and somewhat serious chancier, but which fortunately has
resulted in the Ins of only on life, took place on the main
line of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, within •
short distance of Beckenham, Bent. Within a mile or two
of &shoehorn • sluggish stream omens the track of the
line, and is spanned by • girder bridge owned upon lofty
piers of brick sod stone. On one side of the stream are
ploughed fields, and on the other caier beds. The snow
which fell during Thursday and Friday covered those fields
to a orineklerable depth. The rain which fell on Saturday
melted the snow, and not only swelled the stream to an
unusual extent, bat saturated the ground on either side of
it to an extraordni. arydepth, and, as it would appear, sapped
and loosened the foundations of the bridge which crowed it.
No indications of weakness, however, were observable. The
midnight passenger train from London paned over the
bridge in providential safety within little more than an hour
of the time when the whole structure oollapesd and the train
next following it was destroyed. At half-past one o'clock
on Sunday morning • goods train, consisting of an engine
land tender, thirteen trucks, and • break van, left Battersea
foc Rumple. It arrived in due wane at the bridge over
' the brook already mentioned, and bete its career warn brought
to • calamitous close. The engine got ou and nearly crowd
the bridge, which is about 40 feet in Isegth, when an im-
mense mass of the further pier gave way, and fell bodily
into the maim. The girder bridge, thus deprived of its
support, at one and appeared to swing out sideways, and
then fell with • terrific crash into the stream, carrying
with it the engine and tender, and the whole of
the train, which were all hurled pall men to the bottom of
the stream, and lay there in complete ruin. The engine
driver before the engine torched the ground leaped from
it into the ploughed field. He was severely shaken, but he
escaped with his life. The wonderful character of this
escape will be understood when it is tasted that the height
from which the engine fell is about 40 feet. The fireman
was not so fortunate. He clung to the rail of the engine,
and the tender falling on the top of it, he was instantly
ariashad to death between the two. His legs thrust out,
stiff and stark, from between the two masses of ironwork
were painfully visible all day yesterday, and formed a
ghastly addition to the horrors of the ewe. All attempt.
to extricate the poor fellow's body have been as yekineffec.
teal, owing to the immense weight of the materials between
which he is jammed. The guard, who main the break van,
escaped owing to the fact that it fell first on the top of the
rest of the train, and then slipped down into the water. He
then with some difficulty scrambled out through the win-
dow. The crash of the fall of the bridge and the train was
so groat that it was beard with painful distinctness by the
railway employes more than a mile off. Arlene°e was at
own procured, and menages were telegraphed up end down
the line to communicate the fact of the catastrophe.
Soon after daybreak gangs if workmen were hurried to
the spot to remove the debris, and take measures for the
restoration of the line. One half the girders of the bridge
were found to be smashed to atoms, and one half the pier
was destroyed. The engine and the tender were fined to
be hopelessly smashed ; over them were piled the remains
of some ten trucks to a considerable height. In the stream
and in the fields around lay the merchandise with which
the train had been laden, and which appeared to consist
principally of butter, cheese, and biscuits. The men re.
mained at work during the day, and were watched
with interest by some hundreds of the inhabitant. of the
neighbourhood, who had been made aware of the antideat
by the fearful concussion During the afternoon the en-
gineer of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com-
pany visited the spot, and made • careful examination of
the remains of the bridge and of the foundations of the
neighbouring piers. It is needless to say that through
communication has been completely interrupted, and the
traffic was carried on by the expedient of causing the
passengers to alight at either side of the broken bridge and
get into another train beyond. Notice has been forwarded
to the Board of Trade, and of course a government impeder
will be sect down. The fireman was a native of Ramsgate,
and his name has not as yet been ascertained, because his
last was only his second trip. He was 20 years of age.