Multiple fatalities Chislehurst 20 May 1971

[Oldman22]

Just two weeks after I was appointed as Station Manager at Chislehurst, in charge of Elmstead Woods -perhaps the most junior SM's job on the South Eastern Division - at around midday a light engine running on the up slow line struck and killed three railway workers engaged on painting the rail over road bridge at the country end of the station. Together with a leading railman I removed the bodies clear of the site declaring the line clear after 40 minutes. I think it might take a little longer these days!

I am trying to find documentation associated with the incident and failing completely. I know there was a joint inquiry as well as an Inspecting Officers inquiry - I attended both - but trying now to document my railway career I can find nothing anywhere on-line relating to this incident. Part of the reason might be my lack of skill in interrogating the internet or maybe the documents, press cuttings etc. just do not exist any more.

I would be very grateful to receive information from anybody who recalls, was involved, or has access to any information about this incident.

Thank you.

 

[Magdalia]

The main internet source of information on railway accidents is Railways Archive here:

Accident Archive :: The Railways Archive

Archive of UK railways documents

www.railwaysarchive.co.uk

You are in RA » Accident Archive

The prime source is Railway Inspectorate reports. Some accidents had dedicated reports and there was also an Annual Report which was mainly statistics but sometimes mentioned individual incidents. From your description I doubt that this accident would have qualified for either.

The other main source is local newspapers. The British Library have these but some are still difficult/impossible to access following their computer hack. Local libraries and ancestry websites may also have the relevant newspapers. With 3 fatalities the incident will have been reported in local newspapers, it is just a matter of tracking them down. In addition to reporting on the accident itself, local newspapers would probably have also covered any inquest into the deaths.

But I doubt that any internal papers from British Rail or the Railways Inspectorate will have survived.

 

[Gloster]

Presuming that your recollection of the date and place is accurate, there is nothing on Railways Archive, the usual resource. If the incident only involved staff then the enquiry may have been internal, not a Railway Inspectorate one, and so any paperwork is likely to have been lost following privatisation. A copy of the report might have been sent to the Inspectorate, who might follow things up.

 

[stuving]

I can find nothing vaguely relevant in the British Newspaper Archive with the name Chislehurst or Elmstead in it on that date, or even that year or the next. There are several Kent papers in the BNA from around then, but no doubt there will be other local papers that are not.

 

[Recessio]

If there were fatalities, would there have been a coroners report at the local authority/court records?

 

[Oldman22]

Thank you so much for your responses and advice. I have searched the accident archive without results but dont know where else to look. I am certain the date and location, Chislehurst station, are correct as I still have my work diary for that year. The entry just reads "fatalities" - I was never much for detailed diary entries!
I certainly have not tried hard enough to access local newspaper reports and will now follow your suggestions. As you say, three fatalities and as I recall at least one being local, would have made the press.

To give a bit more detail - I was actually at Elmstead Woods in the ticket office when I heard a train stop on the up slow. Knowing it was not time for a scheduled service I left the ticket office and observed an EDL running light stopped in the up slow platform. I shouted across to the driver who told me that "I might have hit someone at Chislehurst". After immediately contacting Chislehurst signal box to block the up and down slow lines I then asked the driver if he wanted me to arrange relief. He told me that he was OK and only had to get to Hither Green and that he had a secondman with him so I let him go and contacted the control re what had happened. If it was to happen today I would insist that the loco remain at Elmstead Woods until relief arrived. I then rushed back to Chislehurst, a two minute drive, and assessed the situation. An ambulance had been called but before it arrived the leading railman and I removed the three bodies from the track to the down platform. I also had to look after a fourth person who was uninjured and the lookout who was unhurt but extremely distressed. Shortly afterwards the ambulance arrived and took the three bodies away. I cannot recall any police attendance at all.

I contacted the Divisional Civil Engineer who employed the gang involved and was assured that they were looking after communication with the relatives of those who had died. Later that afternoon just before I caught my train home to Sevenoaks a lady came to the booking office saying that she was looking for her husband who was "not home yet" and that she believed had been painting at the station. As a 24 year old in my first management job I grew up about ten years in 10 minutes as I tried to deal with that situation. To be fair to the DCE the lady told me that she had been out all day and not at home.

Subsequently I attended both a Joint Inquiry and an Inspecting Officer's Inquiry, both held at the Divisional HQ at Beckenham so I know that reports did exist.

I spent many years in local management at different locations and subsequently had to pick up a further 16 bodies but fortunately almost all of those were suicides where the deceased had wished to die. This was much easier to deal with than accidents like that at Chislehurst.