The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-03 00:00:00

Alarming Accident to an Express Train,

On Saturday night a most alarming accident
occurred to the down express train to Norwich on
the Great Eastern Railway. The train, which was
somewhat behind time, had approached within about
two miles of Norwich, and had just passed under
what is known as the Lakenham viaduct, when the
driver (Cole) felt the engine give a violent jerk. He
had just previously shut off steam, but was running
at from 30 to 40 miles an hour. When he felt the
jerk he at once gave three whistles to the guard to
apply his brake, and the fireman proceeded to put
in force the tender brake. The leading wheels of
the engine remained on the line, but the driving
wheels tore up the permanent way, breaking the
chairs and ploughing up the ballast. The train
continued on the metal, and for a brief space
nothing serious happened. After running about
120 yards, however, the train approached a long
wooden bridge which carries the line over a shallow
stream and some swampy ground on either side. On
reaching the bridge all the wheels of the engine left
the metals, and a scene of terrible confusion ensued.
The locomotive plunged across the bridge ; but
although the rails were torn up and bent in the most
surprising fashion— although the driving wheels
ploughed and ground into the timbers, the engine
was landed on the other side, where the ballast re-
commenced. Then it flung itself across the up-
line, the wheels became embedded in the ballast,
and its progress was at last stopped. The train had
been dragged somehow across the bridge, notwith-
standing the tearing up of the rails by the engine,
and, marvellous to relate, not one of the carriages
was thrown into the stream beneath. One of the
carriages, was, however, thrown a little on one side,
and its occupants (among whom was Lord Staf-
ford) had to scramble out through the windows
as well as they could. The other passengers,
among whom may be mentioned Sir F. Crossley,
M.P., who was en route to his seat at
Somerlyton, were soon liberated from the carriages,
and it was found, happily, that with the excep-
tion of a few bruises no one was much the worse
for what had happened. The driver and fire-
man held on to their engine till it reached the
bridge, then the fireman jumped off into the river ;
the driver following his example when the engine
had crossed the bridge, and blocked the up line.
The prompt measures which the driver had taken to
reduce the speed after the first jerk no doubt ma-
terially mitigated the final disaster, and prevented
repetitionfellow ofat theone Srtaanploenhursto
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to prevent any train coming upon the up line, and
the guard ran back in the contrary direction to
stop a train expected on the down line. The result
of these timely measures was that no further mis-
chief ensued. Intelligence of the accident was at
once forwarded to Norwich, and Mr. Stevenson,
the local superintendent, went down to the spot in
a special train, with as little loss of time as possible,
taking with him a, number of men. He found, how-
ever, that the damage done was so great that the
regular traffic must be suspended. The up mail
train, which should have started from Norwich at
10 p.m., was accordingly delayed till daybreak yes-
terday, and on reaching the shattered bridge the
passengers were transferred to another train
brought on from Wymondhain. As many as 70
men were set to work to remove the carriages
which had become entangled in the woodwork of
the bridge. By noon yesterday the up line had
been cleared, but the restoration of the still im_
peded down line will be a work involving consider..
able time and labour.