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SOUTHERN RAILWAY
Ministry of Transport
7, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.1
October 3rd, 1925
SIR
I have the honour to report, for the information
of the Minister of Transport, in accordance with the Order
of the 26th of September, the result of my
Inquiry into the circumstances of the separation, and
subsequent runaway and collision, of a coal train, which
occurred between 9.15pm and 9.20pm, on the 21st
of September, near to Stoke Pero station, on the Minehead
and Barnstaple branch of the Southern Railway.
The 8.45pm coal train from Malmsmead to Wootton
Courtenay, having departed Stoke Pero at 9.15pm, became
divided at a point some 450 yards east of the station, with
the result that the last four vehicles of the train,
including the guards van, came to a halt approx 100 yards
beyond the point of separation, by the application of the
automatic brake. The same automatic brake failed to engage
on the forward part of the train, but the driver realised
his situation and brought his engine and the remaining four
vehicles to rest some three hundred yards on from the
position of the stranded section. The rear section of the
train subsequently overcame its brakes and ran down the
falling gradient, colliding with the standing part of the
train.
As a result of this collision I regret to report
that the driver of the train was seriously injured, and was
taken to the George Luttrell Hospital in Minehead for
attention. He was in good enough health to be able to
testify to me as to this incident, under observation from an
attending physician, on the 28th of September.
Some 25 yards of track were damaged due to the
collision. Damage to the stock concerned was extensive,
three vehicles of the standing portion of the train becoming
compressed against the locomotive, with the fourth being
completely destroyed. Two of the runaway vehicles were
similarly compressed, with the last coal wagon and the
guards van derailing and running down the steep slope
beneath the railway at this point, coming to rest against
trees in an adjacent smallholding. The engine received
moderate damage. Further details of damage to (A) permanent
way and (B) rolling stock are given in Appendix I.
The 8.45 coal train from Malmsmead was drawn by engine E.666
“River Avon”, which is a unique 0-6-6-0 compound tank engine
of the articulated pattern developed by Anatole Mallet,
weighing in working order 45.5 tons. The train consisted of
seven eight-wheeled bogie wagons and an eight-wheeled bogie
guards-van, the tare weight being altogether 155 tons. The
engine and train were fitted throughout with vacuum brakes,
both engine and train brakes being simultaneously controlled
by means of the lever in the cab, or by the same in the
guards van. The isolation valve was found to have been
closed on the rearmost vehicle of the standing portion of
the train. The engine and all vehicles in the train were
fitted with the Jones-Calthrop pattern of ‘Norwegian’
coupling, which was found to be broken on the leading
vehicle of the rear section of the train. Subsequent
searches located fragments of this coupling’s chopper link
at a spot identified as Oare Manor Cutting, being approx
10.5 miles from Woody Bay Junction, and the buffer plate was
located at the approximate point of separation, 450 yards
from Stoke Pero station.
On the 21st of September two heavy storms of rain
broke over the area, the first between 3.5 and 5.0 pm, and
the second in the evening about 9.0 pm. The evidence of the
signalmen at Stoke Pero, Outer Alscott, Malmsmead
(Glenthorne Sidings) and Malmsmead (County Gate) was to the
effect that light rain and drizzle occurred intermittently
throughout the day.
Description
The incident occurred on the Southern Railway’s narrow-gauge
line connecting Barnstaple to Minehead, which is a line of
46 miles and 6 furlongs in length, to a gauge of 1 foot,
11.5 inches. The line at the point of separation is carried
on a three-arch viaduct of some thirty yards in length and
fifty feet in height at the centre, located on a curve of
some 10 chains radius, curving from south-west to
north-east, and is followed by a reverse curve of 6 chains
radius, returning the line to a south-easterly course. This
is followed by a straight stretch of line some 300 yards in
length, on which the point of collision is located. A plan
drawing (Fig 1) is attached.
The gradient throughout the scene of the accident is
nominally 1-in-40 descending, but inspection on foot shows
there to be considerable variance from the official gradient
diagrams (Fig 2). The point of separation lies at the
eastern end of the viaduct, which I have found to be on a
short rising gradient of 1-in-50, followed by a
descent at 1-in-35 to return to the official alignment.
Discussion with the Manager suggests that during the
railway’s construction, the contractor deviated from the
deposited plans at this point in order to avoid blasting
down through the dense rock which forms the roadbed here,
instead opting to build the line over the top. A diagram
outlining my findings in section form (Fig 3) is attached.
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