page_title: Great Eastern Railway
section_title: Accidents and incidents
hierarchical_section_title: Great Eastern Railway / Accidents and incidents
caption_attribution_description: English: Witham Railway Station Accident September 1st 1905. Author over 100 years old. I own postcard to which scan was taken.
context_page_description: The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923.
  Formed in 1862 after the amalgamation of the Eastern Counties Railway and several other smaller railway companies the GER served Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, King's Lynn, Lowestoft, Norwich, Southend-on-Sea, and East Anglian seaside resorts such as Hunstanton and Cromer. It also served a suburban area, including Enfield, Chingford, Loughton and Ilford. This suburban network was, in the early 20th century, the busiest steam-hauled commuter system in the world.
  The majority of the Great Eastern's locomotives and rolling stock were built at Stratford Works, part of which was on the site of today's Stratford International station and the rest was adjacent to Stratford Regional station.
context_section_description: On 3 August 1863 a passenger train ran into a bullock near North Wootton station. Five passengers were killed as a result with the poor state of the rolling stock being partially to blame.
  On 26 September 1865 a light engine returning from Great Yarmouth to Ipswich derailed between Darsham and Halesworth killing the driver and fireman.
  On 3 September 1881 there was a collision at Bow Road where a train ran into the back of a stationary train which had failed at the station. The driver and fireman of the moving train were killed and 11 passengers injured. In the inquiry that followed the cause was deemed to be the failure of the signalman to protect the rear of the train by placing signals to danger. The train crew however were criticised in that while they had noticed the signals were not at danger, they had failed to inform the signalman. The guard of the failed train was criticised for not having properly protected the rear of that train.
  On 6 August 1889 there was an accident between Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street when an up passenger service ran into the back of a stationary empty coaching stock train. The enquiry was unable to determine the exact cause of the accident due to conflicting witness statements.
  On 17 October 1891, a passenger train was derailed at Lavenham, Suffolk. During recovery operations, a crane was derailed.
  On 24 December 1891 an accident occurred at Barnby Box (between Beccles and Carlton Colville) with three killed and four injuries.
  On 25 September 1900 at Westerfield 0845, GER Class Y14 0-6-0 locomotive no 522 which was then just a year old stopped at a signal on the Ipswich side of the level crossing awaiting a route to the Felixstowe branch. Shortly afterwards the boiler exploded killing driver John Barnard and his fireman William Macdonald, both based at Ipswich engine shed. The boiler was thrown 40 yards (37 m) forwards, over the level crossing and ended up on the down platform. Apparently the locomotive had a history of boiler problems although in the official report the Boiler Foreman at Ipswich Engine shed was blamed. The victims were buried in Ipswich cemetery and both their gravestones have a likeness of a Y14 0-6-0 carved onto them.
  On 5 April 1905 two trains collided on the junction directly north of Stratford Market station with the goods engine overturning and crushing its fireman William Secker. The driver of the other train had mistakenly started his train thinking the signal was in his favour.
  On 1 September 1905, an express passenger train was derailed at Witham, Essex due to a platelayer's error. Eleven people were killed and 71 were injured.
  On 12 July 1913, an express passenger train collided with a light engine at Colchester, Essex due to a signalman's error.  Three people were killed and fourteen were injured.
  On 1 January 1915, an express passenger train overran signals and collided with a local passenger train at Ilford, Essex. Ten people were killed and over 500 were injured.
caption: Witham.
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