Howden rail crash
| Date | 7 August 1840 |
|---|---|
| Location | Howden, Yorkshire |
| Coordinates | 53°46′01″N 0°52′35″W / 53.76681°N 0.87632°WCoordinates: 53°46′01″N 0°52′35″W / 53.76681°N 0.87632°W |
| Country | England, UK |
| Rail line | Hull and Selby Railway |
| Cause | Inadequately secured load |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 4 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
The Howden rail accident in Yorkshire on 7 August 1840 killed five passengers. It occurred when a large cast-iron casting fell from a wagon and derailed the following carriages. It happened on the Hull and Selby Railway as the train was travelling from Leeds to Hull. The crash was one of the first railway accidents to be investigated by the Railway Inspectorate. One of the worst accidents to have occurred on the new UK rail network, it was also a new phenomenon for the public, although shipwrecks and coal mining accidents were frequent.
Sir Frederick Smith, the first head of the Railway Inspectorate (his formal job title was "Inspector-General of Railways") found that the casting had been insecurely lashed to the wagon, and was unstable for carrying by train. The casting was part of a weighing machine intended to be used at Hull Station, and itself weighed about 2.5 tons. It measured 12 feet 6.75 inches by 5 feet 7 inches, and since the wagon was only 10 feet by 7 feet 6 inches, it must have overhung the wagon when being carried. The casting fell from the wagon onto the rails when the train was about 3/4 mile from Howden station.
Since the wagon was just behind the tender, the following passenger carriages were derailed. The first five carriages were empty, but the sixth carriage held several passengers, some of whom were fatally injured. Smith's report gave the total number of dead as four, but contemporary newspapers reported two separate inquests; one upon three people killed instantly, another upon two who died subsequently of their injuries.
The inspector interviewed railway staff involved directly (driver and guard) as well as many others involved in loading the casting, or had seen the casting on its wagon before the accident. The railway staff all either asserted that the casting had been lashed to the wagon or said they could not remember one way or the other. Smith however noted:
A very respectable civil engineer, whom I met when engaged in the examination of the competing lines of railway to Scotland, acquainted me that he had travelled by the train to which the accident happened on the 7th of August, and was in the carriage with the persons who were unfortunately killed. This gentleman is of opinion, from observations he made at the time, that the casting was not lashed ; but I do not think it right to press this negative evidence against the positive assertions of the persons whose statements I have given above,although it appears to me entitled to every consideration
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