On Thursday, 22nd October 1903, Mr George E. Croysdale (aged 34), a commercial traveller of Liverpool, was killed and several others were injured when a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway express train travelling from Liverpool to Leeds crashed into a light engine which had been left on the line and forgotten in the Sowerby Bridge tunnel.
A jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death, adding that George Allon [the signalman], David Hallowell [the driver] and Austin Barker [the stoker] of the light engine could not be exonerated from blame but were not culpably responsible
The accident and the subsequent inquest were reported in most national newspapers, including the Halifax Courier, the Liverpool Evening Express [23rd October 1903], the Ross Gazette [29th October 1903], and the Echo of London [28th October 1903]
Fatal Railway Collision in Yorkshire
Terrible Scenes in a TunnelAn alarming railway accident occurred last night near Sowerby Bridge Station, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, resulting in the death of one man Mr George Croysdale, a commercial traveller, of Liverpool. Fifteen people were also injured, although their injuries appear not to have been serious, and no persons have been removed to hospital.
- William Stockle, Kirkdale, Liverpool, the driver of the express
- William Tyldesley, Bootle, the stoker on the express
- Nathaniel Bates, Sowerby Bridge
- Samuel Lumb, Mytholmroyd
- Arthur Roberts, Triangle
- Elsie Rylands, Salterhebble, Halifax
- W. L. Becke, Greenheys, Manchester
- Alice Brailsford, Hulme Road, Bradford
- W. H. Dayley, Moseley, Birmingham
- H. Ellison, Cheetham, Manchester
- P. Hoffman, Dudley
- Mrs Hollins and baby, Urmston, Manchester
- Frank Kay, Burton Street, Salford
- Thomas J. Kelley, Aintree, Liverpool
- Paul Zuppke, Leadenhall Street, London
- F. Matthews, Pendleton, Manchester
- O. Partington, Rochdale
- E. Patchett, Harpurhey, Manchester
- H. Seeger, Withington, Manchester
- J. N. Smith, Princess Street, Manchester
- Gertrude Taylor, Manchester
- Joseph Taylor, Urmston, Manchester
- W. Wolstenholme, Manchester
- E. H. Wood, Levenshulme
The accident, which happened at eight o'clock, was caused by an express from Leeds to Liverpool running into an engine standing on the main line beyond Sowerby Bridge Station and near the Sowerby Tunnel, waiting to go into the engine shed.
The driver and stoker of the engine, seeing the express approaching, jumped from the engine in time to save their lives.
The express struck the standing engine with great force, and the engine was driven along the line into the tunnel for some considerable distance. The express also passed into the tunnel, one or more of the rear coaches leaving the line.
Meanwhile a slow train from Manchester came from the opposite direction and ran into the wreckage, causing such a smash that the tunnel was blocked with debris. In the tunnel, the scene was a horrible one, and it was not until very late that the passengers could be rescued.
A later telegram states that the driver of the express, Stockle, received internal injuries while the stoker Tyldesley was thrown from the engine, and very much scalded. They were removed to hospital, and local doctors gave every assistance.
Mr Croysdale is believed to have been getting out of the express when the other train came along, and his feet were torn off.
The main line was blocked until this morning, trains to the West Riding from Lancashire being sent by the London and North Western line via Huddersfield. As the express was travelling at full speed, the force of the impact was exceedingly violent and it is a marvel that many of the passengers were not killed outright. The line was blocked for long time, communication between Lancashire and Yorkshire being entirely cut off. It is a remarkable coincidence that the scene of the accident is within two miles of the spot where a collision occurred on Wednesday morning.
A gentleman named Paul Zuppke, a cigar merchant of Leadenhall street, London, says he was travelling from Bradford to Manchester, and was sitting in the carriage reading when the smash occurred. He was thrown violenty on the floor of the carriage, and was injured through the luggage from the rack falling upon him. Whilst endeavouring to take in the situation and look for a means of escape, he heard loud screams from other compartments, and piteous appeals for help from terrified female passengers. The carriages swung violently from side to side, and on looking through the window he saw that all the carriages, with the exception of the one in which he was travelling, were in total darkness. Most of those who complained of injury were able to proceed on their journey.
There was naturally great alarm amongst the passengers when the collision occurred, their fright being accentuated by the lights of the carriages going out, and by the fact that the scene of the disaster was in the Sowerby Tunnel
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