Passenger guard gave the wrong location

A King’s Cross-bound express train with ten carriages left Aberdeen at 10.15 a.m. on October 26, 1975, and came to a rest near Lunan Bay due to a damaged brake pipe.

George Brown from Dundee served as the express’s passenger guard. He proceeded to call help and attached warning detonators to the cable.

Mr Brown called the Arbroath Signal Box from a lineside phone, but mistook his location for Letham Grange, which was many miles distant.

A rescue locomotive was dispatched from the North. It came to a halt at the Usan signal box, but was permitted to proceed.

Mr Brown was observed near the tracks as the train approached, but the train was unable to slow down on the lowering gradient and collided with the rear coach at 25mph.

The crash propelled the entire train forward by approximately 40 feet. The locomotive became trapped in the rear coach.

The roof was in shreds, and the doors had been thrown onto the rails. Debris on the ground were hundreds of Christmas card packets, discarded clothing, broken bags, and a collection of books.

Driver James Smith suffered cuts to his face and scalp, while his assistant jumped from the locomotive just before the collision, sustaining significant head injuries.

The back coach bore the brunt of the impact, killing 17-year-old Janet Mackie and wounding 37 others, including her 22-year-old husband William and their four-month-old son Michael.

The infant sustained limb injuries and a fractured pelvis. The Peebles family was heading home following a visit with relatives in Montrose. They had just boarded the train.

Lunan Bay resident watched the accident

Jean Wilson was observing the motionless train from the door of her home. She stated:

“I was standing there, wondering what the train was doing, then I heard two booms and realised they were detonators.

“I then saw the engine emerge from beneath the bridge and slam directly into the back of the train.

“I saw it happen as though I was watching a film.”

She made the first emergency call to the emergency services by calling 999.

A doctor who was a passenger on the train and two other doctors who arrived from the Lunan Bay Hotel provided medical help at the site.

The emergency reaction lasted nearly four hours.

A convoy of ambulances and fire engines was stationed in a ploughed field along the track, and the accident was deemed a “major disaster”.

A public inquiry took place after the crash

Firefighters broke through the ceiling of the coach with electric saws, crowbars, and axes before removing Mrs Mackie from the train around 1.45pm.

She had perished on impact. Mrs Mackie was taken by ambulance to the mortuary at Arbroath Infirmary.

Passengers experienced a variety of injuries, including severe lacerations, bruising, and crushing wounds, and were all sent to Stracathro Hospital near Brechin.

Of them, 22 persons were treated and released on the same day. The express ultimately arrived at Arbroath Station shortly before 5 p.m. The train stayed there overnight.

Riddler’s Coach Hire in Arbroath then provided buses to transport the passengers to Dundee. The queue was cleared by 10:30 p.m.

The wrecked carriage remained on the side of the track.

The sad event made headlines across the country.

News was broken in House of Commons

Alick Buchanan-Smith, MP for North Angus and Mearns, led the tributes in the House of Commons, conveying sympathies to Mrs Mackie’s family. He also offered compassion for the injured and their families.

“I wish to pay tribute to the rescue workers involved – firemen, police, doctors and hospitals and railwaymen,” he told reporters.

“I have spoken directly with individuals involved, and there is no question that the rescue efforts were carried out efficiently and professionally.

“Those on the spot told me that the accident could have been very much worse but for the grace of God.”

In November 1975, Major Charles Rose, the Department of Environment’s railway inspector, chaired a public inquiry in Edinburgh.

George Brown, a passenger guard, presented evidence. Mr Brown stated that he challenged the replacement driver, James Smith, following the incident.

The driver responded, “Before you go any further, I was informed that it was Letham Grange.” Mr Brown stated that he “went white” and responded, “God, I have made a mistake.”

Lunan Bay rail crash caused by ‘understandable’ error

Major Rose concluded the probe by stating that the evidence revealed a fairly pathetic narrative of human failing and understandable human error. He stated, “An honest railwayman committed a mistake that we have all made in our time.

“He became confused about where he was. “Something in his mind caused him to state Letham Grange when he knew it was Lunan Bay.”

The Department of Environment’s report was released in October 1976. It stated that the “slip of the tongue” was partially to blame.

According to the study, the error “although reprehensible, was one that anyone could have made”.

The other cause of the catastrophe was the “excessive speed of the assisting locomotive”. Driver James Smith had exceeded the legal 55 mph speed limit on a clear queue and was unable to stop as he neared the halted express.

According to the investigation, the accident “would not have occurred if the locomotive driver had not been travelling too quickly.”

However, “he had no reason to suspect there would be any obstruction on the queue during the first seven or eight miles of his journey”.

According to the investigation, the driver and the passenger train guard “cannot escape at least an equal share of the responsibility for the accident”.

It stated that the circumstances were “most unusual” and unlikely to be reproduced.

Following the disaster, lineside phones were properly labelled with location information.

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