Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Railway Accident

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Railway Accident

    Please can anyone help with finding out about an accident that my Grandfather had when he worked for 'British Rail' He stepped on a live rail and was paralysed from waist down The probable location of the accident would be in the Mitcham Junction area. (Surrey South London) I do not know what Railway company he was employed by. The closest I can pin point the years of the accident is sometime between 1950-1955 This is because I never remember my Grandfather being able to walk and I was born in 1950 but my cousin who is older than me remembers him walking. I have tried contacting railway records but had no success and to go through that amount of newspapers may be a long job unless I can narrow down the time span. Have I missed another source I could try? I really would like to find out more about this Thank you Pam Green

  • #2
    Pam - I'm moving your thread over to our Family History Research section - hopefully some of the members will come up with some suggestions.
    Elaine







    Comment


    • #3
      Unfortunately not many newspapers post 1950 are online.
      I would think that there would have had to have been some sort of inquiry - it's pre Elf N Safety, but perhaps after Board of Trade. Have you looked at the National Archives site?

      Jay
      Janet in Yorkshire



      Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Yes I went to National Archives at Kew but they were unable to suggest where I might find more information without knowing what railway company he worked for. His occupation was a Plate Layer on the Railways. Also I doubt if the accident was after 1955 because by that time my Grandfather would have been 65 years old. I do not know what age a person would have retired then? Thanks Pam

        Comment


        • #5
          Does he appear on the UK Railiway Employment Records on Ancestry - if so might help working out a time frame for the accident.


          Have you searched the Railway Archives?
          Elaine







          Comment


          • #6
            Surely if the accident happened between 1950 and 1955 he didn't work for a Railway Company he worked for British Railways - which was formed when the railways were nationalised in 1948.
            Judith passed away in October 2018

            Comment


            • #8
              There is no one on the Ancestry Railway records My Grandfathers name was Stephen Arthur William Cuzner He was born in January 1889. Did Railway employers retire at 65?

              Comment


              • #9
                FMP has some C20th papers, but I couldn't spot anything obvious. Wherever the accident happened, it doesn't seem to have bee at Mitcham Junction itself.

                Christine
                Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

                Comment


                • #10
                  Um, am I being particularly stupid? I didn't know BR had live rails, I thought it was only underground trains which ran on live rails. Or did the accident happen at a station which served both BR and the Underground?

                  OC

                  Anne's right, Southern Region electrification was third rail.
                  Judith
                  Last edited by JudithM; 20-08-14, 08:05.

                  Comment


                  • #11
                    You could try contacting the National Railway Museum in York. They might be able to help you narrow down which region of British Railways he worked on. I think the southern Region might have had live rails in the London area but I agree with OC it could well have been the London Underground.
                    Anne

                    Comment


                    • #12
                      Apologies - I didn't realise that the electric rail for ordinary trains was a live rail, although I must admit I have never given it any thought!

                      OC

                      Comment


                      • #13
                        Hi Thank you to everyone trying to help with finding out about the railway accident my Grandfather had I don't know too much about live rails. There was more than I station at Mitcham. Maybe I will need to speak to my cousin again to see if he can re call any more details.

                        Comment


                        • #14
                          One of my ancestors was killed when working on the railway in Rugby. I wrote to Rugby Library and they sent me copies of the newspaper reports of the Coroner's inquest into the accident from Rugby and Leicester newspapers. He was taken to a hospital in Leicester where he died and that was where the inquest was held.

                          Comment


                          • #15
                            Mitcham Junction was Southern Railway. By 1956 most of it was electric but there were still some lovely steam engines running.
                            Could it be that the company that has taken over that line/region also took over the records.
                            Not sure how active "elf & safety" was in those days - I thought they were a "newer invention" or are they a newer "version" of personnel?
                            Some of the service records of the railways are online - I have one for a g/father who worked at St. Pancras but that was on the clerical side - I am sure southern railway records will still be around though.
                            Will have a word with a cousin who is into all things "railway" and may know who to approach.
                            There was/is no underground station called Mitcham Junction.

                            Sue

                            Comment


                            • #16
                              Thank You Sue That's very helpful info Also as I mentioned in a previous thread my Grandfather would have reached the age of 66 in January 1955 so would that be a clue that the accident was a bit earlier than we thought Would he have Retired at 65?? Thanks again Pam

                              Comment


                              • #17
                                Your Grandfather may well have retired at 65 but there may have been an option to retire at 60. The Civil Service in those days had that option and since the Railways in those days were "owned" by the Government it is possible it also applied to railway workers. I suspect the state pension would be larger if they retired at 65 but this is a guess and I don't actually know that for sure.
                                I wonder if he had a disability pension following his injury and, if so, how you could check on that? Someone else on here may well know how to do this. Is your grandmother or any of her or your grandfather's relatives still living - they may well know if he was in receipt of a disability pension/benefit. I think a governmental department called the National Assistance Board existed back then but has since been re-named as ?what! Obviously doesn't want to be found. I wonder if "Southern Railway" has a website - also now probably called something else.

                                Haven't heard from cousin yet - will give him a prod.

                                Sue

                                Comment


                                • #18
                                  Thanks again Sue . There are no relatives living apart from us Grandchildren so we wouldn't know about the disability pension I do know where they were living when he had accident STEERS MEAD MITCHAM SURRY. Also they later moved to nearer my family in Armfield Crescent Mitcham that would have been about 1960 Also just to recap my Grandad was a Plate Layer on the railway. Thanks again Pam

                                  Comment


                                  • #19
                                    Hi Pam, My cousin replied having contacted a Yahoo Group (never heard of it before) and there is an answer that could help if you are near enough to get to TNA Kew again:

                                    Answers:
                                    1. "My initial thoughts are that if you can get to The National Archives at Kew then there ought to be a note of the incident in the HMRI Report for the year in question - it should be in the series RAIL 1053/nnn. She will need a Reader' Ticket though. Copies of these are also held at the NRM at York. From experience of looking at these this would have been one of the 'other accident' type of reports where an Assistant Inspector investigated occurrences affecting staff. Not likely to be on the Railways Archive though...............and there is more:
                                    2. One point I forgot to mention. accidents to staff were only usually reported to the Inspectorate where a fatality occurred, though there were exceptions. It may well be that the local Staff Records have been discarded, though they may be at Kew."

                                    3. An online search could be made in The Times and / or Guardian archives which are available in many public libraries and some probably also have access to similar ones for the Daily Mirror and Daily Express."

                                    My cousin is unable to find out anything from the Railways Archive.co.uk that would be relevant.

                                    The next bit is from someone else he consulted:

                                    "[That would be the 06.42 ex Tunbridge Wells: an LMS 2-6-4T turn.] As for the accident, the victim would have been taken to hospital by ambulance and a report (BR8013/4 if my memory of SR days serves) made out with copies for Redhill and Waterloo. There would not have been a police involvement and it would have been unlikely to feature in the press unless they happened to get wind of it themselves. The NHS may be your best source of research"

                                    That is all he could find Pam BUT I know that there is and was in the 50s a Hospital at Redhill called Redhill General (now East Surrey Hospital). This hospital is the designated "major incident unit" for Gatwick Airport mishaps so hopefully they are fairly clued up. Another thought with regard to hospitals crosses my mind and that is that due to the type of accident he was involved in i.e. electrocution, he may well have had some severe burns - the burns unit at East Grinstead Hospital (Queen Victoria Hospital) is still very much alive and well and most certainly was at the time of the accident.

                                    I have never tried to apply for old NHS hospital notes (my experience was that the ones in current usage were often very hard to find) but there are people on here who are much more clued up than I am about that - I think you have to find out from TNA site where the repository is for a particular hospital (I have read this somewhere) - I have, however, never managed to crack the code for TNA for anything nor had a totally successful visit!

                                    Good hunting, Sue

                                    NB I think the bit I put in square brackets about the 6.42 ex-Tunbridge Wells refers to something else he was asking about and is not relevant to you!
                                    Last edited by Sue1; 02-09-14, 18:29.

                                    Comment


                                    • #20
                                      Hi Sue Many Thanks for all the work you have done. I went to Kew last year with all the details I had but they were unable to help but they were looking at Railway accidents rather than what you are saying about a person in other types of accident. I do have a reader ticket for Kew and will go back and try again. I live near Gatwick/Redhill and know the East Surrey Hospital and have visited the East Grinstead Hospital in relation to my job The problem with this type of hospital record from past experience is there may be a block on access to records for 100 years. I think my main problem is not being able to pinpoint a more accurate date of the accident. I will speak again to my eldest cousin as he is the only one that remembers going down to the railway in Mitcham to see Grandad working on the line. He thinks he must have been about 7-8 years old He was born in 1946 so that takes us to about 1953-54 so the accident was after that period and that is the closest time frame I can get at the moment I really appreciate all the time you have taken to help and you have certainly given me more avenues to explore Kind Regards Pam

                                      Comment

                                      Working...
                                      X