Train in Armagh Railway Disaster of 1889?

[copper_pengu]

Hello, I was wondering if there is a Hornby train that matches the one in the Armagh Railway Disaster of 1889?

I assume the train was made by the great Northern company but I could be wrong.

I know that the train was No. 86, a six-wheeled engine, with the driving and traiIing-wheels coupled, with inside cylinders, and a six-wheeled tender.

[What About The Bee]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagh_rail_disaster

Under the heading: Circumstances of the accident, see Note 2: 

"From the details given in the accident report, the excursion train engine appears to be one of the GNRI's H class"

÷÷÷÷

Imagery of the locomotive is widely available on the internet. I will leave it to those far more knowledgeable to confirm or deny the "H class" designation.

Bee

[Topcat2018]

@Wayne

Somewhere I have a book about railway disasters which I think may contain an account and photos of the Armagh disaster. Before I go ferreting through my books to find it, would photos be of any use to you?

[threelink]

I doubt that the Hornby range will have locos or carriages that exactly match those in the infamous Armagh smash but there might be some that could be fettled into look alikes. The gauge will be wrong, of course. The owning company was Great Northern (Ireland) Railway (5'3" gauge) wholly distinct from the English Great Northern (4' 8 1/2" gauge). There are a number of photos readily available in the accident report and in various publications. Given the significance of the Armagh smash (it resulted in the compulsory fitting of fail safe braking systems to all UK trains no later than 1892) I have always thought that it deserves a diorama at least. A working model might be expensive in terms of stock destruction -there were two trains involved, the one that ran away and the one it ran into.

[threelink]

I should have added that the loco of the train that ran away was a 2-4-0 and the loco the runaways ran into was an 0-4-2. I do not have access to my notes so cannot confirm classes but I am sure that the info will be available on the internet

[AndyMac1707817969]

There were two locomotives involved, the one pulling the excursion train and the scheduled service coming behind which the coaches smashed into. Both locos where described as of a similar type the difference being in the number of carriages as to why the scheduled train was able to make headway up the bank. The link below has photos of H class no 86 the loco I believe that was hauling the excursion train

 

 

This is a 2-4-0 loco so a LNWR Precedent may be the closest OO produced model. From the of the overturned loco on the bank of the scheduled train this was a tender loco but appears to a 0-6-0 or possibly an 0-4-2.

[AndyMac1707817969]

There is a fairly comprehesive list of GRNI locos here

https://www.steamindex.com/locotype/gnri.htm

Unfortunately a lot of the GNRI locos where built here there and everywhere and then rebuilt at the Dundalk Locomotive works. My great grandfather was a foreman there around the turn of the century.

[AndyMac1707817969]

I believe the second engine pulling the scheduled train was a Sharp Stewart 0-4-2 Number 9 acquired in 1858 and inherited by the GNRI from the Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway

[copper_pengu]

Thank you all for your responses.

@topcat No need to search through your books thank you.

@ANDYMAC the links with photos and records you have provided are really fascinating thank you.

This particular train and the history surrounding it caught my attention because I was brought up in Armagh and had never heard about the crash until now. The sheer number of coaches and people onboard behind this steam engine sounds crazy. I doubt that I will attempt to create or mod any trains to recreate a scene, but will keep an open mind and look out for now.

[threelink]

@Wayne. Forgive me if I am telling you something that you already know but according to the Investigating Officer's report the loco was working very close to its theoretical maximum drawbar effort. However, during his investigation and under his supervision a test train with identical loading was successfully taken up the bank by a different driver. Given the narrow margins involved it is difficult to know whether the original failure to top the bank was down to driver inexperience, indifferent mechanical condition or just bad coal. Whatever the problem with the loco, one of the most significant contributors to the appalling death toll was the fact that all the carriage doors were locked from the outside, so no-one could escape the runaway.

[copper_pengu]

@threelink being locked from the outside is terrible indeed.

I came across an interesting documentary on YouTube that appears to provide detail of the entire event including those involved.

UK's Tragic Turning Point: The Armagh Rail Disaster

I am now wondering what colour the locomotives were. There appears to be a change in colour tone which indicates the train may have been something other than black. Of course this could also be due to different types of material used in the trains build.

[threelink]

@CO Terrible indeed but standard practise at the time. In the Armagh incident the company stated that the locking was "to prevent unauthorised access". There are any number of cases where locked doors added to the toll of deaths and injuries, notably the Versailles fire as far back as 1842. The French ceased locking doors, British companies did not.

[AndyMac1707817969]

In the early days GRNI adopted the same livery as the GNR, locos where apple green and the coaches varnished teak.