Norton Fitzwarren rail crash
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Norton Fitzwarren rail crash occurred in 1940 between Taunton and Norton Fitzwarren in England, when the driver of a train misunderstood the signalling and track layout, causing him to drive the train through a set of points and off the rails. 27 people were killed.
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Overview
The crash occurred at a point on the railway where four lines were reduced to two.
Unusally, instead of the signals of the two adjacent down tracks being located on the left hand side of their respective tracks, the signals were located one on the left and one on the right.
The driver of the doomed train left Taunton station without noticing that the points and signals had been changed to use the lefthand track rather than the righthand track. The driver however read the signals as if he were using the righthand track. As it was nighttime with a wartime blackout, it was not possible to see the tracks.
For several stations, all signals were green because there were down trains on both tracks. However there was a red signal at the end of the four track section at Norton Fitzwarren. The train driver only realised his mistake when another train overtook him, by which time it was too late to stop before the track ended.
Automatic Warning System (AWS)
The signals at Norton Fitzwarren were fitted with the GWR Automatic Warning System which alerts the driver in his cab, both audibly and visually that he is approaching a distant signal at caution. A yellow warning signal has to be cancelled or the brakes are applied.
Unfortunately, the driver can be so used to cancelling the warning, that he may do this subconciously. This would especially happen if the driver is reading the wrong green signal.
There is no reason to believe that the AWS equipment was not working properly.
Stop and Examine
The guard of the overtaking train was alarmed by strange noises, which later turned out to be ballast thrown up by the now-wrecked train.
He applied his own brakes under the "Stop and Examine" rule to check what might be the problem. Finding nothing, the overtaking train proceeded on its way with a small delay, the guard only later learning of the accident.
Cause
The pairs of signals were badly placed as an ecomomy measure. If at least one pair of signals had been correctly placed - requiring a gantry or a bracket - then the driver of the doomed train would have been more likely to recognise which track he was on and which signals related to it.
It would not have helped that Great Western locomotives had the driver on the right hand side, when his signals were generally on the left hand side.
