On This Day in 1946, Lichfield Train Crash
On this day, 1 January 1946, a serious rail accident occurred at Lichfield Trent Valley station in Staffordshire, resulting in the deaths of 20 passengers and injuries to 21 others. The Lichfield rail crash happened shortly before 7pm on New Year’s Day when a goods train was mistakenly routed into the rear of a stationary local passenger service. The disaster took place during a period when Britain’s railways were under heavy strain in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
The stationary train was a local passenger service travelling from Stafford to Nuneaton, which had been held in the up platform loop at Lichfield to allow faster traffic to pass. The train that struck it was the 14:50 fish train from Fleetwood to London Broad Street, made up of seven four-wheel fish vans and a brake van, hauled by a Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 locomotive. As it approached the station, the goods train was travelling at around 35mph.
At the north end of the station, the points that should have kept the fish train on the up fast line had failed to move correctly. Severe cold weather had frozen the point mechanisms and bent point rods, leaving the points stuck in the position used by the passenger train to enter the loop. Although the signalman operated the levers believing the route was set correctly, the mechanical interlocking allowed the signal to clear despite the points being incorrectly positioned.
As a result, the fish train was diverted into the platform loop and collided with the rear of the stationary passenger train. The impact was devastating. Three of the four wooden-bodied passenger coaches were completely destroyed, and the passenger locomotive, an LNWR Prince of Wales Class 4-6-0, was forced forward by about 100 yards. By contrast, the fish vans and brake van of the goods train remained largely intact.
Thirteen passengers were killed outright in the collision, with others later dying from their injuries either on the way to hospital or after arrival, bringing the total death toll to 20. A further 21 passengers were injured, some seriously. A station porter was also hurt by flying debris. The crew of the passenger train escaped without injury, while the goods train crew suffered minor injuries, with the driver treated for severe shock.
The subsequent official inquiry concluded that the crash was caused by a failure of the points, worsened by freezing conditions, which led to a rare breakdown of mechanical signalling safeguards. The Lichfield rail crash remains a stark reminder of the vulnerability of railway infrastructure to extreme weather and stands as one of the most tragic rail accidents to have occurred on this date in British railway history.