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The Kirtlebridge rail crash took place in 1872 at Kirtlebridge railway station in Dumfriesshire.〔Following the reorganisation of Local Authorities in 1975, Kirtlebridge is located in the area of Dumfries and Galloway Unitary Authority.〕 An express passenger train ran into a goods train that was shunting; 11 people lost their lives immediately, and one further person succumbed later. The cause was a failure to communicate between the station master in charge of the shunting operation, and the signalman. There was not full interlocking of the points and the block system of signalling was not in use.〔Captain H W Tyler, ''Report'' to the Secretary of the Board of Trade, 4 October 1872〕 The location was very close to the point where the present-day A74(M) road crosses the line. ==Description== Kirtlebridge station was nearly 17 miles (27 km) north of Carlisle, on the Caledonian Railway main line to Glasgow and Edinburgh. North of the passenger platforms there was a trailing (in the northbound direction) junction from the Solway Junction Railway, and a signalbox controlled the junction; the points there were interlocked with the signals. South of the station there were sidings on both sides of the main line, and a crossover, but these points were not controlled by the signalbox, being operated by ground levers, and not interlocked, nor protected by the home signal.〔The crossover was between 338 and 273 yards south of the signal box, and the home signal 100 yards south of it, so that an approaching train running up to the home signal would pass the location of the crossover.〕 The block system was not in operation, and communication with adjacent locations was limited.〔 The line may be considered to run south to north at Kirtlebridge, the down direction being northwards. Down sidings were on the west of the line and up sidings on the east. At 07:55 on 2 October 1872 a down goods train arrived at the station and started shunting operations; there were several wagons to be dropped off and collected from sidings both sides of the main line. The work was under the control of the Station Master, and he authorised the operation of a crossover that gave the goods train access to cross the main line. An express passenger train had left London at 21:00 the previous evening, and it left Carlisle station at 07:50. It consisted of 18 vehicles pulled by two locomotives. Running at about 40 mph (64 km/h) under clear signals, the passenger train ran into wagons of the goods train that were fouling the down line.〔 The collision took place at 08:13.〔The Times newspaper, 3 October 1872, London; the booking office clock was stopped at this time, apparently by the concussion of the collision.〕〔The Illustrated London News (periodical), 12 October 1827〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kirtlebridge rail crash」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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