Wooton bridge collapse
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| Date | 11 June 1861 |
|---|---|
| Time | ~07:15 |
| Location | Leek Wootton, Warwickshire |
| Country | England |
| Rail line | Coventry to Leamington Line |
| Operator | London & North Western Railway |
| Cause | Bridge failure |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Deaths | 2 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
Coordinates: 52°19′01″N 1°33′52″W / 52.31687°N 1.56457°W
The Wootton bridge collapse occurred on 11 June 1861, when the rail bridge over the road between Leek Wootton and Hill Wootton in Warwickshire collapsed under the weight of a passing goods train on the line between Leamington Spa and Kenilworth owned by the London and North Western Railway Company. The train had passed over the bridge safely in the morning with a full load of coal, and was returning to Kenilworth with the empty wagons at 7 am. The 30 ton locomotive fell through the deck of the bridge onto the road below, and the tender crashed into the cab, killing both driver and fireman instantly. Many of the empty wagons behind were dragged into the gap to form a pile almost up to the height of nearby telegraph poles.
Henry Whatley Tyler of the Railway Inspectorate examined the accident on behalf of the Board of Trade. He reported that the five cast iron girders which supported the base of the wooden bridge had all fractured near their centres, and so caused the accident. One in particular had been mended some years before, and he thought that the failure had started here. Angle iron had been fitted along the girder to support a crack in the flange, and had been bolted onto the cast iron. Far from strengthening the girder it had actually weakened it further. In hindsight, it is likely that cracks in the girders had grown to a critical size during the initial passage of the heavy train, which then gave way when the empty train returned.
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