Train Crash at Llanbrynmair

It was sad for me to hear of the train crash on the Mid-Wales rail line on 5th November 2024, in which a passenger was killed and several others were injured. It was also surprising news, as train crashes are very rare and moreover there are few trains on this scenic line. A thorough investigation will no doubt establish what went wrong.
I have much affection for this line which runs from Shrewsbury in Shropshire to the holiday and university town of Aberystwyth on the Cardigan Bay coast, with a branch line up to Pwllheli in North Wales. I was born and brought up in Newtown Powys, which is about 30 miles west of Shrewsbury. For our annual two weeks’ holiday, we use to board the steam train at Newtown with all our luggage for the journey to Aberystwyth, where we would stay at Mrs. Worrell’s guest-house. “High tea at 6, doors close at 10 and no hanky-panky.” The trip on the steam train was an exciting prelude to the holiday. “Does the engine have outside cylinders? Does it have a name, such as Bradley Manor? Will we need a second engine to get us up Talerddig?”
I also remember the Sunday school trip each year when we went by train to Aberystwyth. All kids went to Sunday school in those days. The train was crammed full of noisy youngsters keen to enjoy the delights of “Aber”, including hospitality from chapels and churches in that town. Those were the days of Vimto and candyfloss. Travel on the line in more recent years aboard diesel sprinter trains is less exciting, but still uplifting in this fine landscape.
I was vaguely amused listening to English newscasters trying to pronounce “Llanbrynmair” and “Machynlleth”. They do okay with African and Asian names but Welsh is more of a challenge.
This train collision was a reminder for me of a tragic event on this rail line on 26 January 1921, on the single line between Newtown and Abermule, a village three and a half miles to the north-east of Newtown. The line was then part of Cambrian Railways. As with other lines in the country, there was a well-tried system to safeguard single lines. Under the system, there was one and only one “tablet” for each section of single line identifying the station at each end. The engine driver was not permitted to enter the single line unless he had the correct tablet with him.
On that fateful day, an express train from Aberystwyth to Manchester had made a scheduled stop at Newtown. The driver was given the correct tablet to proceed to Abermule, where the train would slow down to hand back the tablet and collect the tablet for the next part of the journey to Montgomery. The express train left Newtown and was accelerating on the down gradient towards Abermule to a speed of 50 mph, when to his horror its driver, Pritchard Jones, saw the smoke from a train approaching on the single line. He applied the brake and then he and his fireman jumped and were severely injured. There was a head on collision at a combined speed of 60 mph. Both locomotives and some coaches were totally destroyed. Seventeen passengers were killed, including directors of the railway company, and many more were injured.
The inquiry into the incident found that the accident was due to human error and misunderstanding at a time when relief staff were on duty. A young porter, who had collected the Montgomery-Abermule tablet from the Whitchurch to Aberystwyth train which had stopped at Abermule, failed to lock the tablet in the cabinet as required but gave it to the relief station-master, who did not look at it but handed it to the driver of the stationary train. He did not look at it either and assumed he had the correct one: and the driver hit the regulator and steamed off from Abermule towards Newtown with catastrophic results.
This was one of the worst head on collisions in Britain in the 20th century, and was the death knell for Cambrian Railways, which had lost public confidence as well as rolling stock. It was a classic single line accident and the news of it spread far and wide, even to India, where engine drivers on single lines had in their cabs a notice “Remember Abermule”: i.e. always check your tablet. In 1922, the Great Western Railway took over the Cambrian lines as part of the major re-organisation of railways into four large companies.
The 1921 accident is part of history, but it is better for me to remember this most scenic of railways for the many happy times travelling on it. Condolences to the family and friends of the passenger who died recently.

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