Rail accident Leeds 1993

[BIG N]

Have recently been busy scanning a lot of my old photos into the computer and came across several pictures of an incident just outside Leeds City station that many will recall and some may well have been delayed or had their travel plans ruined by.Thursday morning the 11th of November 1993 and, having worked the night shift as a shunter at Leeds, I had not been home long when the phone rang. It was my relief I had said goodbye to about a hour earlier who, knowing I was into railway photography, was calling to let me know of an accident on the West junction just outside the station, his words were, "better get your a**e in gear, get back down here and dont forget your camera" so I finished my brew, jumped in the car and headed back to work.As you can imagine when I arrived at the station there was total chaos as the only trains that could move were arriving from the East, the station was now completely full with trains backed up past Neville hill and heading back towards Cross Gates in the East and along all lines radiating out from the West, the powers that be were attempting to get buses in to get people moving but as it was morning rush hour they were not having much luck.A quick call into the Station masters office was made to let them know I was back on site and see if there was anything I could do to assist then into the shunters cabin to don a pair of hi-vis overalls and I set off walking up what was the old platform 1 over looking the P.C.D. where I spotted the morning pilot driver, ken shutting down and securing the pilot on the buffers in one of the P.C.D. shunt roads.Dropping down to track level I walked down into the P.C.D. and asked Ken "what's happening" to which he replied "well I won't be doing owt today lad" "the Blackpools hit the plymouth head on, jobs well and truely beggered" then he wandered off to, in best railway tradition, put the kettle on.The incoming Plymouth was a mail and parcel's train that was due in about 6am but often ran earlier if he could get a path from Birmingham, unfortunatly on this morning he was running about an hour late which meant my relief would have to sort and shunt the stock when he arrived, something that I had earlier been ribbing him about before going home that morning.Looking out onto the West junction I dont think I have ever seen so many people in Hi-vis vest and jackets milling around all looking at each other and generally passing the time of day, many of which wore expensive looking suits and very clean vests, along with two officers of the transport police.It transpired the Plymouth mail had been given the right of way to come of the holbeck line, crossing the entire West junction and drop down into the P.C.D. where my relief and the Ken the pilot driver were waiting paitently for its arrival.At the same time, the unit on the morning Blackpool had been allowed to leave the platform to draw up to the gantry protecting the West junction where he was to come to a stand at the red light on the gantry, common practice to allow the platform to be cleared and make room for another arrival.The driver was approaching the gantry when he saw a green signal and, applying power, began to accelerate towards the junction, just as the Plymouth appeared around the triangle and right into his path or, more correctly, he was now in the path of the Plymouth mail.What the driver of the Blackpool had actually seen was the signal for the line to his left that had cleared for a Sheffield train that was taking the line out past Holbeck and wasn't in conflict with the incoming mail.Both the Blackpool and the Plymouth drivers realised about the same time what was about to happen and both drivers made a full emergency brake application and, although it was too late to avoid a collision, this resulted in a relativly low speed accident - it was estimated closing speed was between twenty and twenty five M.P.H.Luckily there were no fatalities although several people on the Blackpool were injured due to being thrown from their seats etc but non were of a more serious nature.The accident effectivley closed the West end of the station for most of the day resulting in widespread chaos for the travelling public.

[Phill_dvsn]

Great story and superbly told BigN.It just goes to show how one collision can close the entire network down.Where you working out of Holbeck, or signed to Leeds City at that time? I think you'll know Michael Kaye from that era too?

[BIG N]

I was based at Leeds as a leading railman / P.C.D. shunter at the time Phil, Not too sure about Michael Kaye but as you will appreciate, its a long time ago and there were an awful lot of people working on the railway then lol.    

[Phill_dvsn]

That's shunter Kaye at Leeds PCD.You might find some of his Leeds railway stories and photos interesting A Day in the Life of Holbeckhttp://www.derbysulzers.com/holbecktwo.html    

[BIG N]

The first photo was taken about two hours after the collision happened, both drivers had by this time left the scene and all passengers removed from the sprinter.The Bedford road/rail unit seen on the left of the shot had come up from Nottingley to assist as no vehicles were derailed hence no crane was required.Although the road/rail unit carried jacking equiptment for re-railing wagons this wasn't required, however it also contained cutting gear and this was required to enable the loco and the unit to be seperated.This photo was taken moments after the two trains had been seperated, this was a relativley simple process, once some of the tangled metal on both the loco and the unit had been cut away, the loco was fired up and the entire train reversed a few yards to seperate the two.

[BIG N]

Yes Phill I do recognise Mick from that photo but to be fair he wasn't one of our regular P.C.D. pilot drivers and was probably covering for sickness or holiday when that photo was taken.The three regular pilotmen were all what is known as green card men, that means they were, for one reason or another, usually on health grounds, no longer concidered fit to drive on the main line but were still able to do pilot work in the various yards, although trips to both Holbeck and Neville hill were permitted as required.

[BIG N]

deleted due to duplication

[BIG N]

This and the next photo were taken in the afternoon after I had been home, grabbed some sleep and then gone back down to Holbeck depot armed with the camera.The one thing about these two shots that stands out in my mind is, given the relative low speed of the collision, the amount of damage the loco ( and the unit ) suffered and just how lucky both drivers were that the two trains came together on the drivers offsides ( for those who dont know, train drivers sit on the left hand side of the cab ).Looking at the damage things could have been far worse.

[BIG N]

try that again    

[BIG N]

Oops sorry - could a mod please remove this duplicate - ta