Newspaper Extracts
Railway Collision at Swinton
16th July, 1870Yesterday morning, at an early hour, a somewhat serious collision occurred at the Swinton Junction, about 8 miles from Sheffield.
It appears from information obtained on the spot that a few minutes after 4 o'clock, shortly after the mail train from Leeds to London had passed the spot, a goods train from Tipton was crossing from the Midland line to the South Yorkshire line, it was run into by the Leeds fast goods' train, the consequence being that both trains were thrown off the rails, and the permanent way torn up for several yards. Both engines were damaged, and several of the wagons smashed to firewood.
The driver of the Leeds train jumped off, it is said, before the collision occurred, and was seriously injured. The guard of the Tipton train was also hurt. The former was removed to the Sheffield Infirmary, and the latter to his home in Sheffield. As far as could be ascertained these are the only persons that have been seriously injured.
Just at the place where the collision occurred the canal passed underneath the railway, and the bridge that spans the canal has suffered severely, one of the piers being considerably shattered and the parapet partly thrown down.
The Leeds and London mail only passed the junction a few minutes prior to the collision. Had the mail been passing at the moment, instead of the goods train, the loss of life must have been very great indeed. Breakdown gangs were promptly on the spot, but it was 20 minutes past 11 o'clock, nearly 8 hours after the accident, before the line could be cleared, and it was late last evening when the traffic was resumed on both lines.
