The wreckage and the viaduct [Z50/85/21]

Eleven years after the last fatal railway accident at Oakley another occurred on 4th October 1949. The Bedfordshire Times of 7th October reported it as follows.

A full inquiry has been ordered by British Railways into Tuesday's fatal accident at Oakley, when two Wellingborough men were killed in a collision between goods trains one of which was stationary on the Stafford Viaduct. The men were trapped in the cabin of one of the engines, which had plunged forty feet over the bridge into a meadow by the river, and it was some hours later, and only after intensive rescue attempts that their bodies were recovered. The men were John William Bailey (50), the driver, of 153 Mill Road and Charles Horace Richards (24), fireman, of 23 Eastfield Road.

It was the 1.35 pm Wellingborough to Brent (London) which ran into the rear of one from Toton (Nottinghamshire) to London.

The crash occurred at 2.15 pm and it was exactly four hours later when the body of the driver, Mr. Bailey, was dragged from the wrecked cabin after firemen under the supervision of Chief Officer E. T. Stanford had cut their way through the steel casing with oxy-acetylene flames and other apparatus. But at that stage it was not possible to reach the body of the fireman, which was not recovered until 3.20 am on Wednesday. The work of clearing the surrounding wreckage was continued non-stop throughout Tuesday night

Two hundred men were engaged on Wednesday in clearing the upturned trucks which blocked the lines and a stretch of 100 yards of prefabricated line was laid.

The damage caused by the collision will not be easily forgotten. The engine hurtling over the viaduct smashed through the 18 inch thick wall of the bridge causing a gap fully 30 yards long. In the field below hundreds of tons of coal from loaded tricks of both trains were heaped on top of the wrecked engine, wagons blocked the goods lines, others were dangling over the bridge, and more trucks were smashed on top of the coal. A twisted rail hung down over the viaduct, a telegraph pole by the bridge had been mangled to pulp and huge chunks of masonry littered the field. The smashed engine gave the appearance of having been battered by a giant hammer, and massive steel wheels of the wagons were clustered oddly around the debris.

Burning lumps of coal had been catapulted 50 yards from the bridge. Telegraph communications were interrupted

The wreckage [Z50/85/22]

FEAR OF FIRE

It was at first feared that the fire in the engine would spread to the heaped coal and the smashed woodwork from the trucks, and to avert this danger firemen sprayed water from the nearby River Ouse.

Eye-witness accounts at the scene did not reveal much about the actual crash, mainly because "everything seemed to happen so fast" as one person said to a Bedfordshire Times reporter. In the cabin of the stationary train was Fireman N. Berwick, of Wellingborough, who said afterwards "There was a slight push and that was all".

"There was one big bang", said Mr. T. J. Turner, Post Office worker of Oakley, who heard the crash in the village a quarter-of-a-mile away. He came to the scene to help in rescue work.

"They did a magnificent job and set about it like Trojans", another person said, referring to the rescue workers (Bedford firemen, shirt-sleeved policemen and a railway squad) who began to clear away the mass of wreckage with pick and shovel. "They were sweating, grimy and tired, but they still carried on", was another tribute to these workers.

At one stage of the rescue operations it looked as if the wagons hanging precariously over the viaduct must surely come crashing down on top of the squad and work was halted for a moment when they were digging from one side of the heaped coal.

The guard of the stationary train, Mr. A. Cobb, had a very lucky escape, his van being smashed to pieces. He saw the other train approach ad ran up the line in the path of the train in an attempt to stop it, but he was too late, and he jumped clear only just in time to save himself from being mown down by the on-coming engine.

Mr. Alfred Hedge of Leys Road, Wellingborough, who was also in the guard's van of this train, had a remarkable escape from injury. He said after the accident: "I did not see a thing, all I felt was a bump".

DIRECTED BY RADIO

Among the first people on the scene were P. C.s Tompkins and J. Kirby, who were on duty in a patrol car. They were directed by radio from County Headquarters. Policemen on duty at the County Quarter Sessions were also sent to the viaduct. Ambulance-men and doctors were on constant duty by the wreckage, and villagers stood by watching the rescue attempts. It was a silent crowd.

Mr. R. Anderson, Deputy Chief Constable, Superintendent F. W. Kitchener and Inspector A. W. Norman were among the police officers present during the clearing operations.

An inquest on the two victims will be opened at Kempston Police Station this Friday afternoon.