| Harrow Disaster 50th Anniversary |
| A report in the Railway Magazine of July 2002, indicated that a campaign to erect a memorial at Harrow and Wealdstone Station to commemorate Britain's worst peacetime rail disaster has been successful. A permanent tribute to the 112 passengers and staff who died on October 8, 1952 has been approved. At the time of the report, the precise form that the memorial would take was not yet known. Featured in the September edition of our Newsletter was locomotive number 46242 City of Glasgow, which was involved in the crash but was later repaired and returned to service. The following photograph by Monty Smith from the Allan Mearns collection depicts 46246 City of Glasgow in its restored and re-built condition at Polmadie, Glasgow on September 29, 1962. |
| PRINCESS ROYAL CLASS 8P 46202 Princess Anne: This locomotive was a rebuild of the ‘turbomotive' turbine 4-6-2 (unnamed). The rebuild, was reminiscent of a cross between a ‘Princess Royal' and ‘Duchess'. 46202 Princess Anne saw less than a year in service, having been damaged beyond repair at Harrow. |
| JUBILEE CLASS 5XP 45637 Windward Islands: This locomotive, which was double-heading with 46202 Princess Anne, was damaged beyond repair. |
| THE WITHDRAWAL OF 46202 was a factor in gaining authority to build the solitary British Railways Standard Pacific 71000 Duke of Gloucester. This Caprotti-valve geared locomotive built at Crewe in 1954 and saved from the breakers yard in the mid-1960s, has recently undergone an extended and extensive overhaul and is expected to return to service later this year. |
| October 8, 1952 |
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| The three previous photographs by W.H. Whitworth are from the collection of John Mason. An item worthy of note is that John's father, Herbert Mason, a senior official at Crewe, was dispatched to the crash-site shortly after the report was received and remained there for about four days with minimal sleep. John further noted (at our October meeting) that, in addition to the hourly rate paid to workers at the site, the men also received a bonus of 10 shillings! RECOMMENDED READING: While a number of railway periodicals have recently commemorated the Harrow Railway Disaster with articles and pictures, a must-read (if still in print) is The Harrow Railway Disaster 1952 by L.F.E. Coombs published by David & Charles, third impression 1984. See also the Harrow Times. |