‘The awful catastrophe which occurred at the Tay Bridge on the last Sunday of the year is still the all-absorbing theme of conversation in the community…’ A section of the Tay Bridge, which connects Dundee and Wormit in Fife, collapsed during a terrible storm on the night of 28 December 1879. Tragically, a Dundee-bound train plunged into the freezing waters of the river, with the loss of 60 lives (although some estimate the loss to have been 75 lives). Graphic illustrated the scenes …
Trains
The etiquette (and lack of it) on trains is one of The British Newspaper Archive team’s all-time favourite subjects. Truly, if discussing the behaviour of people on trains were an Olympic event, we’re confident we would stand a fair chance of winning a medal. Just why do people sit in the aisle seat, and place all their belongings in the seat by the window? Why don’t they use the luggage rack for their bags, etc? And when you politely ask, ‘Excuse …
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‘The locomotive was drawing a streamlined train to which was attached to a dynamometer car, in which were charts and instruments which confirmed the records.’ On 3 July 1938, ‘The Mallard’ locomotive (engine number 6648) achieved a new UK record for steam trains, travelling at 125.88 MPH on the UK’s East Coast Main Line. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of that historic day, here is a newspaper story from 1938 reporting on the setting of this famous world record, which remains …
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The Armagh railway disaster took place on 12 June 1889 with the loss of 80 lives. The accident happened after the engine stalled on a steep hill, and the crew decided to split the train in two in order to negotiate the steep incline. Tragically, the second half of the train was not properly braked, and it ran back down the hill and collided with an oncoming train. At the time, this was the worst rail disaster that had occurred …