page_title: Vale of Neath Railway
section_title: North Dock accident, 1865
hierarchical_section_title: Vale of Neath Railway / North Dock accident, 1865
caption_attribution_description: English: Sensational image of result of a coal train passing over an open bridge at Swansea on 29 November 1865
context_page_description: The Vale of Neath Railway was a broad gauge railway company, that built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, in Wales, chiefly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay.
  The railway focused on transporting coal from the rapidly developing rich colliery area around Aberdare. When the narrow gauge Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway made moves to link to the area, with its Taff Vale Extension line, the Vale of Neath Railway saw that there was potential in connecting up; it laid a third rail to make mixed gauge. The link was made in 1864 and coal was conveyed to London and the north-west of England by that route. By that time the VoNR and the NA&HR had been absorbed into the Great Western Railway system.
  Connections to the docks at Swansea had not been fruitful in the early days, and the Swansea and Neath Railway, soon taken over by the VoNR, made some improvement, but the docks area remained congested and difficult.
  The main line of the VoNR was always busy in GWR days, mineral traffic being intensive and difficult because of steep gradients and inadequate infrastructure.
context_section_description: The accident referred to above took place on 29 November 1865 when an engine and 30 wagons of a coal train fell into the lock chamber of the North Dock at Swansea, running over a drawbridge that should have been closed for the train.
  There were four signal stations in close succession, and each was required to give "line clear" having ascertained that the drawbridges and other hazards were in the correct position. The men had been working 16 or 17 hour shifts consistently, and one of them gave line clear even though the drawbridge was open. A red warning light was exhibited automatically by the bridge being open, but the train driver was struggling to get his engine working on slippery rails; it was a tank engine running bunker first and the driver consequently had his back to the direction of travel. In addition there was smoke haze from copper smelting works, limiting visibility. He and his fireman lost their lives by drowning in the accident.
  Incidentally, by the Act of Parliament authorising the line, "the company is compelled to open the drawbridges [to shipping] and keep them open for 2½ hours before high water and 1½ hours after high water, for each tide. The passenger and coal traffic usually ceases about half past 8 o'clock p.m. and is resumed about 4 a.m."
caption: Illustrated London News image of the result of the accident
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