Quintinshill rail disaster 1915

[Firefox]

The Quintinshill rail disaster happened on 22 May 1915 near Gretna Green Dumfriesshire, Scotland at Quintinshill, at a signal box with passing loops on each side on the Caledonian Railway Main Line linking Glasgow and Carlisle. The crash involved five trains and killed approximately 226 and injured 246. Those killed were mainly Territorial soldiers from the1/7th (Leith) Battalion, the Royal Scots heading for Gallipoli. The precise death toll was never established with confidence as the roll list of the regiment was destroyed by the fire.


A burning carriage

Roll call of survivors

Read More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster

 

[Bombardier]

Terrible loss of life. I watched a TV program about this, seems to accident was caused by pressures on the rail system due to the excess of war time traffic and the blame was put on two men working for the railway. George Meakin and James Tinsley. I believe they were both found guilty of culpable homicide.

1/7th Battalion
August 1914 : in Dalmeny Street, Leith. Part of Lothian Brigade, Scottish Coast Defences.
24 April 1915 : transferred to 156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade, 52nd (Lowland) Division.
A and D Companies were involved in a rail accident at Quintinshill near Gretna on 22 May 1915 while en-route to Liverpool from Larbert in Stirlingshire. 210 men were killed and 224 injured, forming the majority of the 473 casualties of the worst disaster in British railway history.
Sailed from Liverpool 24 May 1915, going via Egypt to Gallipoli 14 June 1915.
Returned to Egypt 8 January 1916.
Moved to France, landing at Marseilles, 17 April 1918.

See more battalions
http://www.1914-1918.net/royalscots.htm

 

[Bombardier]

Quintinshill rail disaster remembered 100 years on

A memorial service for the victims of Britain's worst rail disaster will be held at Gretna Green later.
More than 200 people died when three trains crashed at Quintinshill in Dumfries and Galloway on 22 May 1915.

Read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-32835334

 

[Razzle]

A tragic loss of life, the irony is many of them would have been lost in the trenches had they made it there.
so the mistakes were human error due to the pressures on the rail system because of the war?