Moorgate train crash driver

This was a subway train cash where 43 people died immediately, a. The stretch of track on which it occurred was the northern city line and was known at the time as the northern line highbury branch. Disasters and accidents moorgate tube crash leslie newson. Mar 10, 2015 moorgate was probably my first introduction to my ongoing obsession with disasters, and how we humans behave when confronted by them. Some 300 morning commuters are on the train heading into the moorgate terminus platform. Thirtyfive years after britains worst tube crash one. All across the network, tube drivers do less and less driving. Dramatic footage from the incident in poland shows the driver running.

Disasters and accidents moorgate tube crash leslie. Moorgate tube crash posted in the unresolvedmysteries. Files from various government departments held here at the national archives provide more information on this crash, the worst ever on the london underground, which tragically resulted in 43 deaths and 74 people hospitalised with injuries. As rescue workers prepared for a long fight to bring all the injured out of the mangle of compressed carriages, a fullscale investigation was set up into the moorgate tube disaster, the worst ever on the london underground. One railroad author and former tube driver, piers connor, thinks inattentiveness was the cause of the crash, it apparently caused a similar crash in 1971. In 1978, engineers put in a new protection system which would apply brakes to an oncoming train if the driver failed to do so. Jan 21, 2018 documentary about the moorgate train disaster that occurred on 28th february 1975 at 0846. It is considered the worst peacetime accident on the london underground.

A train failed to stop at the moorgate station, the lines southern terminus, and crashed into the wall at the end of the tunnel. London underground train has crashed at moorgate, killing the driver and dozens of passengers. My friends husband was the first driver to bring a train into moorgate when it reopened a daunting moment, he admits. Train driver warns passengers seconds before train crashes. It appears the actual crash train had been sent to drayton park depot, from neasden depot, with brake and motor defects.

The aftermath of the moorgate train crash pictured. The london ambulance service had also declared moorgate a major accident. The accident caused the most fatalities on the underground. The train accelerated going through the station, when it should have been slowing down, and hit the wall at the end of he tunnel as it was a dead end. Fortythree people died and 74 people were injured, the greatest loss of life during peacetime in the london underground. The guard would not have had time to react to activate the emergency brake even if he had been at his post. Unfortunately not soon enough, and he died before reaching the hospital. Newson had been killed together with 42 passengers and a further 74 passenger had been injured and in need of treatment in the hospital.

The moorgate tube crash deconstructed dougs darkworld. The warning phantom of moorgate station spooky isles. My sister, rosemarie mansi, died in the moorgate crash and was the last to be brought out before the driver. Originally published in the guardian on 1 march 1975. The train was operated by a dead mans switch, so the train conductor would have had his hand on the accelerator when the tube crashed. Moorgate tube crash posted in the unresolvedmysteries community. The medical experts involved gave speculative diagnoses that the driver who was killed was suffering from akinesis with mutism or transient global amnesia. Jun 18, 2019 following the moorgate disaster, many newspapers learning of the ghost sighting reported that the spectre may well have been seen by the driver causing him to have a lapse in concentration which led to the crash. Lots of exlondon transport workers going into technical detail about what they think went wrong, from leslie newsome mistaking moorgate for another station essex road, which was closed on the day of the crash and lit up on the tunnel similarly to moorgate to flicker rate of lights affecting the driver, to suggestions that the crashed train. The moorgate underground train disaster in 1975, 43 killed, was never satisfactorily explained, or possibly was never satisfactorily investigated.

The moorgate crash was caused by the fact that driver newson didnt for whatever undetermined reason apply the brakes, so now all deadend stops on the london underground are fitted with a socalled moorgate control that automatically stops a train if the driver fails to do so. A second plaque in memory of 43 people who died in the moorgate tube disaster in 1975 was unveiled in 2015, to commemorate the 40 th anniversary of the disaster. This tragic tube crash in 1975 resulted in the deaths of 43 people, with 74 people injured. Something happened to cause a stuffed full commuter train to crash inside of a tunnel outside of moorgate station underground at 8. He had taken no steps to stop the train, which one might have expected him to do had there been a technical fault. The moorgate tube crash the national archives blog. This already disturbing fact is made worse when you realise that, due to the exit at moorgate being at the front of the train, most of the passengers on board were travelling in the first two cars. Following the accident an inquiry was established and it found no equipment fault on the train, and that the dead mans handle had no defect and attention focused on the 54 year old driver motorman leslie newson, however nothing conclusive was found to explain his lack of. Moorgate tube crash known as worst accident in london underground history fortythree died and 74 injured after a northern line train hurtled into a 5ft wall no fault was found with the train. Train driver warns passengers seconds before train crashes in.

Thirtyfive years after britains worst tube crash one victim. He also had to give evidence at the inquiry into the disaster, along with other drivers, as he had driven the train that crashed and there was some suggestion that the train. On february 28 1975, the 0838 northern line underground train left half a minute late from drayton park, carrying 300 passengers to moorgate on the highbury branch. In the same spirit as my column on the dyatlov pass accident i thought id cover another historical disaster mystery, the 1975 london moorgate tube crash. Fortythree people died and 74 were injured after a northern line train hurtled into a concrete wall.

The collected writings of doug stych, scoundrelatlarge. Jul 28, 20 a plaque bearing names of the moorgate tube crash victims has been unveiled close to the station. As rescue workers prepared for a long fight to bring all the injured out of the mangle of compressed carriages, a fullscale investigation was set up into the moorgate. The moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 february 1975 at 8. The moorgate train crash in london underground was the worst peace time disaster which had taken place within the tunnel just outside moorgate station.

A train driver has been hailed as a hero after he risked his life to warn his passengers of an impending crash with a lorry. There has even been talk of phasing them out altogether and having fully automatic, driver less trains, like the docklands light railway. Apr 06, 2017 on february 28 1976 a london underground train barreled through moorgate station and slammed into the end of the tunnel. The first metropolitan subterranean railway system in the world was built in london back in 1863 when the trains that ran on it were still powered by steam. Something happened to cause a stuffed full commuter train to crash inside of a tunnel outside of moorgate station underground. Moorgate train crash london wiki fandom powered by wikia. An estimated 300 commuters were onboard by the time the train reached moorgate station. The moorgate tube crash was a railway disaster on the london underground. As a direct result of the accident, tube trains entering deadend tunnels like moorgate stop automatically.

Leslie newson, driver of the train in the moorgate tube disaster in which 43 died and 74 were injured in february 1975. It is part of the great northern route services, and operates as the southeastern branch of the east coast main line ecml. A train driver was killed and 18 passengers hurt when a commuter train ploughed into a bridge after leaving the tracks at st. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so. A leading psychiatric expert said that suicide by newson would seem the most likely explanation of the disaster. The northern city line is a commuter railway line in england, which runs from moorgate station to finsbury park in london with services running beyond. The moorgate tube crash in 1975 tragically resulted in 43 people being killed and 74 being injured. If he or she lifted his hands from the handle then the train would brake and stop. Travelling at 30mph40mph, the sixvehicle train entered. On 28 february 1975, 43 people were killed and 74 seriously injured in the moorgate tube crash, when a southbound northern city line train crashed into the end of the deadend tunnel beyond the platform. Fortythree people died as a result of the crash and a further seventyfour were injured. A contemporary of motorman newson at the time of the accident, i was a trainman on the bakerloo line, and the northern line shared our rolling stock. On the morning of friday, february 28, 1975, i was sent to cover a terrible train crash at moorgate underground station.

The cause of the accident remains a mystery, but following the disaster, a 10mph speed limit previously 15mph was introduced on all trains entering passenger locations, and in 1978 the moorgate protection system was introduced, which automatically applied brakes if the driver failed to do so. The moorgate train disaster october 3, 2016 april 26, 2019 chris the first metropolitan subterranean railway system in the world was built in london back in 1863 when the trains that ran on it were still powered by steam. The aftermath of the moorgate train crash in 1975 then keith simpson, professor emeritus of forensic medicine, who had conducted the post mortem examination on the driver, agreed to see me. The cause of moorgate is that the driver didnt stop at the end of the line and drove the train straight into a dead end. Documentary about the moorgate train disaster that occurred on 28th february 1975 at 0846. The week before the moorgate train crash, another guard had reported that newsons train overshot the stop at another station. The accident occurred when northern line train number 272, carrying 300 passengers, overran the underground station at moorgate, ploughing into the sanddrag intended to slow trains which had failed to stop, hitting the bufferstop and crashing into the concrete wall at the end of the tunnel. Forty three people were killed and 74 were injured. A london underground train has crashed at moorgate, killing the driver and at least 29 passengers and injuring more than 70 in the worstever tube disaster.

May, 2016 a train driver has been hailed as a hero after he risked his life to warn his passengers of an impending crash with a lorry. He was a train driver, an underground train driver. Moorgate tube crash 1975 on 28 february 1975, a tube train rammed into the end of a deadend tunnel at moorgate on the london underground, killing the driver and 41 passengers. The moorgate tube crash led to changes in the way tube services were operated into terminus stations. The moorgate tube crash occurred on friday 28 february 1975 at 08. The 0837 train from drayton park to moorgate was packed with commuters going to work when it overshot the platform and ploughed into a deadend tunnel at 0846. The train stopped normally at old street, the penultimate stop. The cause of the crash, which killed 43 people, was never determined.

Any overspeed, and the train air line would be fully engaged and the train would stop in a heap. Could have been suicide or a sudden medical or mental condition. The moorgate tube crash, the most serious accident on the london underground, occurred at moorgate on 28 february 1975, when a highbury branch train ran through the terminus at speed and crashed into the dead end of the tunnel beyond. The southern end of the highbury branch platforms were rebuilt extensively and an automatic system for stopping trains was introduced into deadends on the london underground, regardless of whether the driver brakes the train. In that case the train was empty, and the driver did apply the breaks at the last moment. The moorgate tube crash was the worst tube disaster in londons history, killing 43 passengers, including the driver, ad injuring approximately 70 people. It appears the crash train was acquired by newson in an unofficial crew changeover at old street station. Newson drove it to drayton park for the first time that morning, and then south to moorgate whereupon it crashed. A sunday times reporter, it was only later in the day that i discovered. On september 1905, a train derailed at the station. One of the very direct responses to the crash was the fitting in of speed sensors approaching dead end platforms, so an approahing train had to be checked right down at 3 4 points progressivly to about 5mph. The 1975 moorgate train crash was a disaster to affect many lives and yet the impact is not immediately apparent until we, the tourist, realise we might have walked in the spectral shoes of someone they loved.

My friends father was a driver on the over ground trains that terminated at moorgate he helped, along with many other br and lt staff, to get the train out of the sand drag at the end of the tunnel. It was formed of two threecar units of 1938 lte rolling stock. Jonathan mayo reveals how the moorgate crash unfolded in a. As the train approached its destination at 0846, it failed to slow. Nobody will ever know what the driver of train 272 was thinking as he drove into moorgate station at 8. Moorgate tube accident musings of a curious individual. This was put in train cabs in case a driver suffered some kind of heart attack or seizure at the controls.

Moorgate is a central london railway terminus and connected london underground station on moorgate in the city of london. On the morning of 28 february 1975, a train entered moorgate station on the london undergrounds northern city line. He had worked for london underground since 1969, first as a guard and had recently qualified as a motorman train driver. In my view guard harriss behaviour cannot be regarded as having. In the aftermath of the crash, a couple of curious facts about newson came to light. He said it was awful down there hot, fetid and full of little flies apparently, they were always in that area, disaster or not. The moorgate tube crash occurred on the london underground northern line highbury branch on 28 february 1975 at 08. A plaque bearing names of the moorgate tube crash victims has been unveiled close to the station. On 28 february 1975, a tube train rammed into the end of a deadend tunnel at moorgate on the london underground, killing the driver and 41 passengers. This system came to be known informally as moorgate protection. As the train moved towards its destination at 0846, it failed to slow down and travelling at 30mph40mph, the sixvehicle trained had entered the overrun tunnel at moorgate terminus. The moorgate tube crash, 1975 the incidents that changed. London, 1975, an underground train crashes at full speed into a dead end tunnel.

The moorgate train disaster real unexplained mysteries. It was the worst accident in peacetime on the london underground. My mother and brother both remained in the area, my mother at the same address for most of her life so its surprising that we had no contact. Remembering the 1975 moorgate tube crash london fire brigade. In fact, the moorgate death toll of 43 killed including the driver out of around 300 people on the train was exacerbated by another coincidence. On february 28, 1975, the moorgate train crash occurred inside a tunnel just outside the station during the morning rush hour and became london undergrounds worst peacetime disaster. In what vastly overpaid tube drivers are already complaining to their union is the 29th episode of the cb wallop podcast, join phil jerrod and phil lucas as they discuss the moorgate tube crash the weird and mysterious tale of how a perfectly healthy man, on a perfectly normal morning, drove his perfectly maintained train into a very big wall. The moorgate tube crash is known as the worst accident in london underground history. List of rail accidents in the united kingdom wikipedia. The accident, the worst ever on the london underground during peacetime, occurred when a southbound northern city line train from drayton park failed to stop at the platform and ploughed into the concrete wall at the end of the tunnel at moorgate station. A southbound train failed to stop at the moorgate terminus and crashed into the wall at end of the tunnel. The final person of the 43 fatalities to be removed from the scene of mishap was the train driver, a 56 year old father of two known as leslie newson. Listen to the podcast 1 week early and adfree exclusively on stitcher premium. The writer laurence marks is convinced that the driver, leslie newson, deliberately drove into the dead end, therefore committing suicide and mass murder simultaneously.

On the balance of probabilities, i think the driver had some kind of seizure just before the train entered moorgate station and he was unable to remove his hand from the dead mans handle. The accident on the london underground with the highest loss of life was the moorgate tube crash which occurred on the northern city line in 1975. Report on the accident that occurred on 28th february 1975. The station is a terminus, yet the train failed to stop at its southern end and crashed into the end wall of the tunnel.