Charfield Railway Disaster

Charfield Railway first opened in 1878.   Then 50 years on disaster struck.

October 13th 1928

We took a trip up to Charfield on the anniversary of the fatal crash which occurred at the station.  It was reported that amongst those killed were two children, who were never claimed or identified.

Reports of the ghosts of these children have been seen walking hand in hand along the track.  

We obviously could not get near the track, but there is a foot bridge over it.  Our pictures and recordings showed nothing at that time.

The old station house was next to the Railway Tavern, which was used as a makeshift hospital/mortuary.  Photos of the crash are on the wall and memorabilia, this was very interesting.

On our way back to the car we took pictures through the railings of the track and old station, and were excited when Jill caught a wonderful vortex in all its glory ! Our last stop was at the small old church yard where there is a memorial in memory of those people who perished in that fatal accident.

A lady in black used to visit the grave of those two children two or three times a year. Yet no one knew who she was!

We laid some flowers in memory of those who died on the memorial; also lying there was a small wreath!   

The report

The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire.

The Leeds to Bristol LMS night mail train failed to stop at the signals protecting the sidings at Charfield railway station. The weather was misty, but there was not a sufficiently thick fog for the signalman at Charfield to employ fog signalers. A freight train was in the process of being shunted from the main line to the sidings, and another train of empty goods wagons was passing through the station from the Bristol direction. The mail train collided with the freight train and was derailed, coming into collision with the up train underneath the road bridge to the north of the station. Gas used to light the carriages ignited, and four carriages were burnt out. Intense fire made identification of the dead, and even a complete body count, difficult, but it is believed that 15 people died and a further 23 were injured. (The official report lists 16 deaths and 41 injuries). The driver of the mail train claimed that he had seen a clear distant signal on approach to the station, and therefore had assumed that the home signals protecting the station were also clear; however, testing of the signals after the accident confirmed that the distant had been correctly in the "danger" position. The driver was charged with manslaughter, but was subsequently acquitted.

Among the dead were the remains of two small children, who have never been identified. According to local accounts, from 1929 and up until the late 1950s, an unknown woman dressed in black used to regularly visit the memorial to the crash. But she has not been seen for several decades. There is a memorial to remember those who lost their lives at St James Church in Charfield, where the two unknown children are buried.

The photo below is of the station taken sometime between the late 1800's to early 1900's

As this is a copy there is no way of knowing the exact date it was taken