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On 3 June 1884 the regular 4.33pm London and South Western Railway Weymouth train left Salisbury as usual, but about six minutes late. Just beyond Downton, by the then College of Agriculture, it came off the rails, and was wrecked at the bottom of the embankment. Five people were killed and more than forty injured.
The train was following the line which then ran out of Salisbury to the south east, through Alderbury, Downton, Woodgreen. Fordingbridge, Alderholt, Verwood, West Moors, Wimborne, then south, via Poole and Wareham before turning west towards Dorchester and south to Weymouth. It was a line well used, by workers, school children, visitors, holiday makers, and by local farms and industries in the area. It was as familiar as catching a bus today. Many people alive today remember using parts of the route daily.
So what happened?
Colonel FH Rich (Royal Engineers) reported to Parliament (as required) on 28 July. A summary:
The train was a mile and a quarter beyond Downton station. It was a short train with six carriages of the first, second and third classes, a brake van at the front and a guard’s van at the rear. Col. Rich noted that it had two engines, each with a tender (for coal), and he said that two engines “when not required are always a source of danger.” The two engines, the tender of the first and the brake van stayed on the track but all the rest came off it. The first coach stayed upright but the next four slipped down the six foot bank, turned over in the wet ditch and were wrecked. The sixth was suspended partly in a tree. The guard’s van was on its side.
William Witt, the gateman at Charford, stated that all seemed well with the train, and that it did not seem to be travelling any faster than usual.
Robert Miles, the driver said that after leaving Downton he sensed the engine was running rather fast, looked around and saw a great deal of dust (it was a hot, dry summer) and realised the train had become uncoupled. George Waters, the guard at the back of the train in his van said that, after passing over the Avon River Bridge, “I felt a great oscillation…and the train had gone down the bank. About two or three minutes after, my van came to a stand and I got out.Some people came to assist me off the top of the van.”
There were questions as to whether the delivery of chalk to the trackside earlier in the day, to be applied later as extra support to the bank, had somehow played a part in the accident. However, Albert Nichols, a ganger, said “I do not think any pick or tool was left about the ground,,,and I do not think there were any loose things about which could have been left or placed on the rails.”
There were also questions about the speed of the train prior to the accident but witness accounts varied on this. The evidence of Mr. Adams, chief locomotive superintendent of the London and South-Western Railway Company, suggested a broken coupling had caused the accident.
Col. Rich however concluded : “I have no hesitation in stating that the accident was caused by the train having been run at too great speed over a weak road. The train having two engines and eight short vehicles, with short wheel bases, was not calculated to
run steadily, at great speed, over a line of such gradients and curves.” The evidence of the engine-drivers and firemen “will not stand sifting” the Colonel said.
Apparently, neither did the evidence of Mr. Adams, chief locomotive superintendent of the London and South-Western Railway Company!
Thank you to the website Railway Archive for this. The full report can be read there. Wonderful stuff.