UK Harrow and Wealdstone Train Crash 1952

In 1952 , after a horrific war, Harrow was back on the road to recovery and normality. Large scale death and destruction was a thing of the past and we had grown accustomed to the peace of it all. But on the morning of October 8 disaster struck causing more death and injury than any local bombing raid during the war.

In Crewe, driver Robert Jones was scheduled to take over the Perth-London sleeper headed by Coronation' No.42642 City of Glasgow. The day before, Robert busied himself redecorating his home and worked into the evening to complete the job. He was exhausted by the time he retired, later than normal, when scheduled for an early morning start.

Due to fog the train was 32 minutes late on arrival at Crewe and driver Jones eventually left the station at 4.37 am. and drove carefully through the thick fog. Later it lifted but as he reached Watford Junction his train was running 80 minutes late.

As a youngster I had spent many hours train spotting at Harrow and Wealdstone LMS railway station watching many fast express trains pass through. I wondered at the immense power of great steam engines passing beneath the platform and underneath the access bridge, belching steam and smoke everywhere. I remember talking to my pals about what would happen if, by accident, an express came down on the same line as the Stanmore Rattler', our local train.

At 8.19 precisely , on visual record for all to see (the station clock perched high on a tower above the station, stopped at the time of impact). The 7.31 Tring-Euston with 800 passengers in its nine coaches was waiting when driver Jones' train, bound for London and travelling at approximately 60mph ploughed into it, mounting and crushing several coaches beneath. A third train, the 8a,m Euston- Liverpool and Manchester was travelling at a similar speed when it ploughed into the wreckage of the others. This down train of 15 vehicles was headed by Jubilee' 4-6-0 No. 45637.

Living nearby, I was home on leave from medical training with the RAF. I had done well in theory, the practice would come later when I gained my qualification - or so I thought! I awoke with a start hearing a jumble of deafening screeching, grating, hissing and a huge thud. It was like a dream remembering when, as a youngster, Hitler scored a direct hit on a neighbour's house - but the noises were different. Seconds later it happened again and I knew I wasn't dreaming, something terrible

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