The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-14 00:00:00

SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

On Monday afternoon an accident of a serious
nature occurred on the North British Railway between
Drem and Longniddry, whereby a lady named Mrs. Arrow-
smith, residing at Preatonpans, was killed, and three other
passengers severely injured. The' .55 p.m. train, which
ordinarilyleaves Dunbar on the arrival of the 9 a.m. fast
train from York, ran from Dunbar to Edinburgh as a fast
train, the 2.55 parliamentary train following it. The latter
train consisted of three waggons next the engine, five
passenger carriages, and a guard's break-van. It started
from Drem all right, and was proceeding at the rate of
between 20 and 25 miles an hour when at a place called
Spittal siding,between Dremand iongniddry,tbetireofone
of the wheels of the waggon next the engine flew off. The
train ran a few hundred yards before it was pulled up,
when the engine with the three waggons attached separated
from the rear portion of the train, which, instead of keep-
ing the line of rails up to that point, immediately diverged
from the line. The carriage next the engine—a second-
clue—then got uncoupled and wheeled round, and the re-
mainder of the carriages ran into it with great force, com-
pletely overturning it. In this position it lay till assist-
ance arrived to extricate its occupants. A first-class and
other three carriages ran into a field, but remained upright.
The occupants of the second-class carriage seemed
to have fared the worst, as it was in it that Mrs.
Arrowamith was killed, and the following persons were
sadly injured :—Mr. William Broughton, potato-mer-
chant, belonging to Lincolnshire, who was on his way
from chirnside to Preatonpans, concussion of the brain ;
Mr. Watson, tobacconist, liaddington, badly cut on the
face and head ; and Catherine Chalmers, a servant with
Lady Ferguson, New Haile!, severely bruised on the face
and head. A telegram having been sent to Edinburgh
announcing the accident, a special train was quickly des-
patched to the scene of the disaster carrying with
it Dr. Dunemure, the company's medical officer,
and Mr. Maclaren, passenger-superintendent. The
body of Mrs. Arrowamith was taken to Long-
niddry, and a messenger despatched on horseback to
Preatonpans to inform her relatives of the sad occurrence.
The girl Chalmers and Mr. Broughton were conveyed to
Spatial Farm, while Mr. Watson was taken home to Had-
dington. It is impossible exactly to account for the acci-
dent, the tire which flew off having been found on exami-
nation to be made of the very best material, and having
only been in use a few months. The damage to plant is
stated to have been considerable. The up line was ren-
dered impassable for several hours, and the traffic had to
be conducted on the down line.

A serious accident occurred on the Lancaster and Carlisle
section of the London and North Western Railway, on
Monday afternoon, resulting in groat destruction of rolling
stock, serious injury to a stoker, and complete stoppage of
traffic both north and south for several hours. Shortly
after 4 o'clock a goods train on its way north was taking on
additional waggous, near Clifton station, about 25 miles
south of Carlisle. Whilst so occupied another goods train,
consisting of a great number of waggons, and also bound
north, came round the curve on the same line at the usual
speed, and before any-thing could ho done to pull up to any
serviceable extent, it " pitched " into the rear of
the first train with a fearful crash, and sent waggons
and splinters of waggons, both before and behind, flying
in all directions. The noise of the collision was heard at
Hackthorpe, a mile and a half distant. When the engine-
man and fireman saw that the collision was inevitable,
they both leaped from the engine,—the former escaping
unhurt, but the latter breaking his thigh. No one else was
hurt, but the smash of waggons was most extensive, both
lines being choked up with ((Orris. Darkness was now
fast enclosing the scene of destruction, and this
of coarse increased the difficulties of the situation.

-.—
Men were summoned from all available parts, and an
engine with workmen's tools was sent from Carlisle.
Large fires were lighted upon the embankments rising
from each side of the line, and a good blaze was thus kept
up, illuminating with almost the light of day the scene of
destruction below. When the extent of the damage was
thus perceived all hands were set to work to clear the
lines, but it soon became evident that several hours would
have to he occupied in the work. The fires were kept up
with wood from the broken waggons, which but a few mi-
nutes before had been passing along the line in good order.
The engine that " pitched in" was literally embedded in
broken waggons, shivered into hundreds of pieces, and
several waggons behind it were thrown off the line and
turned upside down. The funnel of the engine was knocked
off, and the front part of it was also considerably da-
maged. Both lines were completely blocked up, and the
task of clearing the line seemed almost hopeless, as the
men were apparently at a loss where to start first. Whilst
I the work of clearance was going on, four passenger trains
from the south came up, and of course they were brought
to a standstill for several hours. On the other side, the
5 p.m. express from Carlisle came up, and it also was
obliged to pull up until a road was made for it. Engines
were set to work to pull the broken and upturned waggons
off the road, and by this means several of the most bulky
obstructions were thrown to a side. The line was not
clear for five hours, and it was after 11 o'clock before
the London mail and the London daily papers reached
Carlisle.