Orgreave Paddy Mail accident
| Date | 13 December 1926 |
|---|---|
| Location | Orgreave Colliery, South Yorkshire |
| Country | England, UK |
| Rail line | Great Central Railway |
| Cause | Derailment fouled line |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 3 |
| Passengers | 800 |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injuries | 19 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
Coordinates: 53°22′01″N 1°21′32″W / 53.367°N 1.359°W
The Orgreave Train Collision occurred on 13 December 1926 near Orgreaves Colliery signal box on the Great Central Railway line about 4 1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) east of Sheffield. A goods train had collided with a preceding goods train on the same line, and the wreckage had obstructed the adjacent passenger line.
A workman's train, known as a paddy mail, ran into the wreckage; paddy mails were workmans' trains operated in connection with all three shift changes at the collieries. These were hauled from Sheffield Victoria, as far as Orgreaves Colliery Sidings by the main line company, using whatever locomotive was available. At this point the colliery's own locomotives took over and in connection with this operation 'Rothervale No.6' was fitted with vacuum brakes. The train then ran to Orgreave Colliery platform and Treeton Colliery.
Note: The signal box was named Orgreaves Colliery, with an 's' being added to the name, in error, however the railway company never corrected the mistake and it remained as such until its eventual demise.
The line at Orgreaves Colliery was quadruple track, the centre tracks being the Main Lines operated under Absolute Block regulations, and the outer lines were designated Goods Lines, and they were worked under Permissive Block regulations. Whereas the Absolute Block System maintains a space interval between trains to prevent collision, the Permissive Block System permits trains to follow one another into a block section without special protection other than a speed restriction, usually of 4 mph.
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