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"La Culpable", Sucre, 101, Barranco, Lima, Peru.

Gretna Hall. And the Worst Rail Crash in British History. by pepandtim

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The Postcard

A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name.

Although the card was not posted, someone has written on the back:

"August 30th. 1950

by Seagull coach.

Showing the blacksmith's

shop across which weddings

took place from Robert Burns'

day up until 1943.

A man trap is also shown".

Gretna Green

Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings.

It is in Dumfriesshire, near the mouth of the River Esk, and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh.

The Quintinshill Rail Disaster

The worst rail crash in British history (227 recorded deaths), occurred near Gretna Green.

It was a multi-train rail crash which occurred on the 22nd. May 1915 outside the Quintinshill signal box near Gretna Green.

Quintinshill box controlled two passing loops, one on each side of the double-track Caledonian Main Line linking Glasgow and Carlisle. At the time of the accident, both passing loops were occupied with goods trains, and a northbound local passenger train was standing on the southbound main line.

The first collision occurred when a southbound troop train travelling to Liverpool collided with the stationary local train.

A minute later the wreckage was struck by a northbound sleeping car express train travelling from London to Glasgow. Gas from the lighting system of the old wooden carriages of the troop train ignited, starting a fire which soon engulfed all five trains.

Such was the intensity of the fire that all the coal in the locomotive tenders was consumed. Gunfire added an eerie effect to the scene as small arms and rifle shells in the luggage vans began to explode in the intense heat.

Only half the soldiers on the troop train survived. Those killed were mainly Royal Scots soldiers heading for Gallipoli. The precise death toll was never established with confidence as some bodies were never recovered, having been wholly consumed by the fire, and the roll list of the regiment was also destroyed in the fire.

The last known survivor of the accident, Peter Stoddart, was interviewed by Michael Simkins in 1985. Simkins wrote in The Guardian in 2001:

I asked him about a story I had heard of an officer who went about the scene shooting men trapped in the burning wreckage. He replied:

"That was true. I saw that. He

was a Scottish gentleman.

But he had to".

There was a suspicion of a chuckle in his voice as he added:

"And there were one or two

other survivors who made

themselves scarce. They took

their opportunity".

The official death toll was 227 (215 soldiers, 9 passengers and three railway employees). Not counted in the 227 were four victims thought to be children, but whose remains were never claimed or identified. The soldiers were buried together in a mass grave in Edinburgh's Rosebank Cemetery, where an annual remembrance service is held.

An official inquiry, completed on the 17th. June 1915 for the Board of Trade, found the cause of the collision to be neglect of the rules by two signalmen. Both were charged with manslaughter in England, then convicted of culpable homicide after trial in Scotland. After they were released from a Scottish jail in 1916, they were re-employed by the railway company, although not as signalmen.

CULPABLES - KAROL G X ANUEL AA by K3VIN DESIGNS

Gretna Green - Gretna Hall. And the Worst Rail Crash in British History. by pepandtim

1

The Postcard

A postally unused M & L National Series postcard. The card was produced in Great Britain.