The Eltham Well Hall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 11 June 1972 at approximately 21:35.
He had been working on the railways since 1958 and was experienced to drive the British Rail Class 47 locomotive, which would occasionally come down from trains in other regions.
The first occurred on 7 November 1961, when Wilsdon had been charged £150 for being drunk and disorderly, causing damage to a shop window and assaulting a police constable whilst off-duty.
Both men were subsequently suspended shortly afterwards, against which Wilsdon immediately appealed, claiming that the event was an isolated incident.
By 1972 he was married with young children and living in Rainham, Kent - which meant he would usually have to make an almost two hour rail commute to his depot at Hither Green.
[2] On Sunday 11 June 1972, a day-trip to Margate had been arranged for the employees (and their families) of British Rail's Midland Region based at the North London depot at Kentish Town.
Owing to the large number of day-trippers booked for this customary annual works-outing, a pair of excursion trains were laid on to transport them to Margate and back.
The outbound journeys left Kentish Town around 0830, were completed uneventfully and the trains stabled at Ramsgate as planned.
Wilsdon and Stokes were to sign on duty at Hither Green in person by 15:42 to catch a train as passengers to Ramsgate, transferring at Dartford.
[2] As he did not need to be on duty until the afternoon, Wilsdon joined his two brothers for lunch at around 12:55, the three travelling to a local pub where they stayed until closing time just after 14:00.
According to them, the three returned home and spent the afternoon indoors with the children until Robert was driven by one of his brothers to Rainham station at around 17:15.
In reality, Wilsdon did not leave for Rainham station until 17:15 and as such his move was solely to gain pay for an extra two hours for which he had not actually been on duty.
[2] When Stokes boarded the engine, he waited alone in the cab until around 18:25 when Wilsdon arrived and spoke about the preparations for the journey back to London.
Guard Atterbury, who arrived at Ramsgate some hours earlier and had been relaxing in the staff break room of the station, had gone to prepare the train for its departure at around 19:30 and initially noted that the engine crew were absent.
Stationmaster Arundell signalled the train clear to depart for London, but both he and Atterbury found that there was no response in the cab.
A member of staff on the platform at this time noted that he had seen both Stokes and Wilsdon depart the locomotive and leave the station via Platform No.1 three minutes after having arrived at Margate and this was later compared with the timings made by Guard Atterbury, who recorded a 20:13 departure from Margate (eight minutes late) noting that both Stokes and Wilsdon were absent.
Exactly where the pair went in this period is unknown owing to Wilsdon's death and Stokes having little recollection of the events after leaving Ramsgate and although another pub was close to the station, it was considered that neither had time to reach it.
Shortly after leaving Rainham, Atterbury noted that the speed seemed "a little bit excessive" and that Wilsdon had been braking intensely between Gillingham and Chatham railway station.
[2] Although Atterbury had been somewhat concerned about excessive speed between Gillingham and Chatham, he stated that Wilsdon had operated appropriately through Dartford.
At no point did Wilsdon even attempt to slow his train beyond having already shut off the engine to coast which was normal at this long downhill sector of the line.
The locomotive jumped the sharp curve, derailing and rolling onto its left side and sliding through a coal yard.
The front of the cab was torn open and debris thrown and 'ploughed' inside, killing Wilsdon and severely injuring Stokes.
The Report for the crash was released on 1 June 1973 and it quite clearly showed that the accident was caused entirely by the actions of Robert Wilsdon, in that he had "grossly impaired his ability to drive safely by drinking a considerable quantity of alcohol both before and after booking on duty".
British Rail staff who came in contact with Wilsdon on 11 June (his supervisor at Hither Green, depot staff at Ramsgate, Secondman Stokes, Railway Club staff at Ramsgate, Guard Atterbury, Stationmaster Arundell and his staff at Margate, Railman Fleming and Signalman Obee at Rainham) were all intensively questioned and gave evidence at the inquiry regarding the state of Wilsdon, to which all agreed that Wilsdon appeared perfectly fit and sober even as late as his unscheduled stop in Rainham, with the only person aware of Wilsdon already having drunk alcohol prior to reaching Ramsgate being Secondman Stokes, who considered him still fit and sober enough to drive the train.
Guard Atterbury was not criticised whatsoever for his behaviour and it was considered unfortunate that his "splashes" were too weak to gain Wilsdon's attention.
The second uncertain moment was what occurred to both him and Stokes during the stop at Margate, in which both seemingly left the station via the Platform No.1 entrance.
The final uncertainty was the fact that when his body was autopsied, Wilsdon's blood alcohol content was 0.278% (the legal limit for driving a road vehicle in England at that time was 0.08%).
This issue was however was brought up again in 1991 after the Cannon Street station rail crash in which the driver in that instance was believed to have been high on cannabis and caused a buffer-stop collision.