Penistone rail accidents
During a parliamentary committee meeting to debate the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, George Stephenson was asked if it would not be awkward should a train hit a cow.
His now classic reply, given in his broad Northumbrian dialect, was to state "Oo, ay, very awkward for the COO!".
Shortly after leaving Dunford Bridge the Sheffield bound train struck a cow, which a drover from Penistone market had been unable to remove from the line.
An express passenger train, the 12:30 pm from Manchester London Road to London King's Cross, with through carriages for Grimsby Docks in connection with the evening steamer sailing, had left Woodhead Tunnel and was gathering speed on the downhill gradient towards Penistone.
[4] As it entered the curve at Bullhouse, the driver felt the engine develop an uneasy roll, but before he could apply the brakes, he heard a crack.
Unexpected catastrophic failure of axles (and wheels) was a problem on all railway vehicles at the time, owing to the lack of understanding of the causes, especially fatigue crack initiation and growth.
(It was noted that the day of the Barnsley Junction accident was very cold and the ballast under the railway sleepers was frozen, increasing the loads on the wheels and axles.)
Although the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway could not be held directly responsible for this accident, the enquiry recommended more thorough inspection of all rolling stock.
Preston North End, then considered the best team in the country, were due to play Wolverhampton Wanderers at Kennington Oval, and the University Boat Race was to take place over the Thames Tideway between Putney and Mortlake in London.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway ran an excursion with portions from Liverpool, Southport and Wigan to London, Kings Cross.
The tender capsized and became entangled in signal wires, the locomotive dug into the ballast and the front coach was totally smashed.
Coaches two and three toppled onto their sides and the following three which were pulled round in different directions were left standing broadside against the first pair.
He set all his signals against the train and the driver applied his brakes but it could not stop before hitting the tender of the crashed locomotive.
The Mail train's buffers penetrated the plating of the tender and the bogie wheels were thrown off the track, but the engine did not reach the crashed coaches.
The through coach to Huddersfield, conveyed on the 5:30 pm King's Cross to Manchester (London Road) express was detached at Penistone and placed to await collection by the local train.
The cause of the collapse was stated to be scouring of the foundations after prolonged heavy rain; the parapet of the viaduct had been observed to be cracked some days earlier.
An avoidable accident blamed mainly on signalman's error, in which an LMS locomotive, Aspinall radial tank No.
He moved off to regain his right line, but the signal was in fact intended for the Manchester – Marylebone express, loaded to five coaches and hauled by class D10 "Director" No.5437 "Prince George", which was approaching.
The Huddersfield Junction signalman was held to be responsible for the accident, although the LMS driver did receive a mention in the report for his breach of rules.
The Inspector also referred to Rule 55(b) which provided that the fireman should go to the signalbox and remain there to remind the signalman of the presence of his train, standing on a running line.
[13] Other bad publicity concerned the dangers of asphyxiation if a passenger train were to stall in the Woodhead Tunnels, though this was not wholly folklore.
