Milton rail crash

Milton rail crash

Date	Sunday, 20 November 1955
Location	Milton
Country	England
Rail line	Great Western Main Line
Cause	signalling error
Statistics
Trains	1
Deaths	11
Injuries	157
List of UK rail accidents by year

The Milton rail crash was a crash in 1955, at Milton, Berkshire (currently Oxfordshire). A passenger train took a crossover too fast and derailed. Eleven were killed, and 157 were injured.

Overview

The crash occurred at about 13:15 on Sunday 20 November 1955, at Milton, between Steventon and Didcot on the line from Swindon on the Western Region of British Railways. The train involved was the 08:30 excursion train from Treherbert, South Wales, to Paddington station, consisting of ten coaches hauled by Britannia Pacific no. 70026 Polar Star. The train failed to slow down for a low speed crossover.

The engine and several carriages rolled down an embankment, which exacerbated the severity of the accident.

Contributing factors

The signals were on the right hand side of the track, but the driving position on the engine was on the left hand side, which hampered visibility.

There was a berth track circuit approaching the crossover but it was much longer than the train, making it hard for the signalman to estimate the speed of the train.

Aftermath

The signals were later modified to prevent a driver seeing a proceed signal for the crossover too soon. This is known as Approach Release.

Handrails on the smoke deflectors also obscured the drivers' view, and these were later removed and replaced with hand holds on all the "Britannia" class locomotives which ran on the Western Region.

See also

• Jokela rail crash - similar overspeed accident in Finland
• Colwich rail crash - overspeed through turnout, signal aspects a factor

• Lists of rail accidents

References

• Accident at Milton on 20th November 1955
• Report on the Derailment which occurred on 20th November 1955 at Milton (near Didcot) in the Western Region British Railways at The Railways Archive.(C) Crown Copyright acknowledged)