On the morning of 1 September 1905, a train left London Liverpool Street, bound for Cromer. As it approached Witham railway station, disaster struck.

Most of its 14 carriages left the tracks, sliding up the platform on their sides, even overturning completely.

Eleven people - including a 10-year-old girl - lost their lives in the crash, with more than 70 injured.

But further catastrophe was just moments away as another train approached at speed, heading for the wreckage.

The quick reactions of a signalman and his colleagues prevented even greater loss of life.

More than a century later, their brave actions - and the lives lost on that day - will be commemorated for the first time.

The 09:27 service de-railed as it reached Witham station around an hour into its journey, causing a scene of devastation.

One carriage hit the platform and slid on its side into a wooden hut - a second carriage caught fire when gas tanks underneath ruptured.

A third overturned completely - the weight of its heavy iron framework and wheels crushing the upper timber section, killing nine passengers inside.

A tenth passenger in another carriage was also killed, along with a porter. Some of the victims could only be partially identified by letters which they had in their pockets. Others remained unidentified.

Sixty-six passengers were also injured in the crash, along with five members of staff.

But the danger was not over.


One of the carriages slid along the platform on its side into a wooden hut


One of the carriages overturned, with the weight of the iron framework crushing the wooden upper structure

An oncoming train from Cromer to London was approaching Witham at speed, oblivious to what had happened.

Signalman Ben Sainty - along with his colleagues Fred Parrish and Thomas Bannister - leapt into action.

Ben quickly changed the signals from Clear to Danger, which the train driver thankfully saw in enough time to stop a few hundred yards away from the station. Its passengers - including the Norwich City football team and their manager - disembarked and helped the survivors.

An inquiry initially said the cause of the crash was due to plate layers removing a piece of track and not replacing it in time.

Local historian John Palombi told the BBC that the train driver said afterwards that he could see men working on the tracks until getting out of the way at the very last second.

"Those plate layers were later discharged as nothing was proven that they had done anything wrong," he said. "If it wasn't for the really rapid and quick reactions… from those signalmen, it would have been a much worse disaster," Mr Palombi added.


(BBC News article continues)

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