Aisgill Railway Disaster

Aisgill Railway Disaster

Photographs associated with the Aisgill disaster:
ct00144 Jury members depicted outside the venue of the Coroner's Inquest in Kirkby Stephen
ct00146 victims' graves in Kirkby Stephen churchyard

The Aisgill rail disaster occurred on the Settle-Carlisle Railway on 2 September 1913, at a point near the hamlet of Aisgill where the gradient caused a challenge for smaller locomotives. A stalled passenger train was hit from behind by a second train which was also in difficulty, and where the crew had failed to observe danger signals.
The proximate cause of the crash was a signal passed at danger, but there were a very large number of contributing factors including the quality of the coal in use on the first locomotive. 14 people in the first train died at the scene, and very few remains were later found. Two passengers subsequently died of their injuries. 38 passengers in the second train were seriously injured. Among the fatalities were two children aged 3 and 5 and their 19-year-old nanny. The children's remains were buried in their home city of Edinburgh, but their nanny, Katherine Wood, was buried in Kirkby Stephen.

Anonymous photographers

Cumbria Image Bank http://www.cumbriaimagebank.org.uk/

1913

Reproduced by courtesy of Cumbria Image Bank, who retain all rights over this image. No further reproduction is permitted without written permission of Cumbria Image Bank.

Footage of the disaster site, from the Pathe archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URAPwW172RE
Official report into the disaster: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_AisGill1913.pdf

Twentieth century

Photographs