Aconsiderable number of collisions has taken place over the years where a slow train, often a goods, has perforce had to be moved out of the way of a faster non-stop train. This was done in one of two basic ways – shunt into a siding leading from the same track or shunt across from one line to the one going in the other direction and hope that the signalman will remember that you are there when accepting an oncoming service on that track. There was rather less frequently a third option – that of shunting into a siding on the opposite side of the line.
This is the story of how no fewer than four trains were involved in an incident which involved shunting across from one track to a siding but which was changed to a different manoeuvre than was expected by one footplate crew and which resulted in another driver and fireman losing their lives. Two of the trains mentioned were involved directly and two only indirectly though their presence was crucial to what happened. Two signalmen were also involved but only one was considered to be at fault in his actions which were later described as inexplicable.
Now in the early hours of 14th April 1914 a London King's Cross to Aberdeen sleeping car express was approaching Burntisland in Fife behind North British Railway Atlantic No.872 Auld Reekie and running only seven minutes behind a goods train from Carlisle. Both trains were well behind their booked times, the passenger one by 28 minutes. The timetable required the goods to be shunted out of the way of the express at Burntisland although this could, and frequently did, happen much earlier in the journey at either Dalmeny or Inverkeithing. On this occasion the movement was to be made as booked.
The train included the following vehicles:
- ECJSeight-wheelthirdNo1
- ECJSeight-wheelbrakevanNo.7
- NBReight-wheelbrakevanNo.6
- NERsix-wheelbrakevanNo.42
- ECJSeight-wheelbrakevanNo. 5
- ECJSeight-wheelthirdNo79
- ECJSeight-wheelsleeperNo169
- ECJStwelve-wheelbrakecompositeNo.142
Burntisland is some ten miles north east of the Forth Bridge and had originally been the northern terminus of the ferry from Granton across the Forth, the railway running from there to Tayport until the opening of the Tay Bridge. It was at the time an important traffic centre on account of the harbour and two associated docks – East and West. A locomotive shed and works yard lay to the south and east of the station and this was bounded on the south by a public road, Lammerlaws, which crossed the railway by a bridge. This bridge severely hampered visibility of the main line from one of the two signal cabins which controlled the traffic in the area – Burntisland Junction and Burntisland East. The Junction cabin was located immediately east of the station platforms on the south side of the line and had responsibility for the main line and two goods lines which served the West Dock. There were crossover roads
