Disaster struck on line 100 years ago
“The bleating and cries of pain of the animals in the darkness of the night was pitiful in the extreme”, we are told in an article in the Strathearn Herald of October 8 1921, when more than 100 sheep were killed outright in a train smash.
Another 350 had been mutilated so severely as to require their humane destruction.
Raising livestock can be a difficult business when farmers are trying to source feeding for their animals to get them to the best condition and have them ready for market, so as to hopefully gain the highest prices and therefore provide the best return.
Even today you will see in certain areas of the country, large lorries conveying loads of sheep and cattle from one side of the country to the other as farmers secure good grazing from each other.
In the past, most of these livestock movements went by train and usually saw large amounts of sheep in particular, moving in spring from the east of Scotland to areas of the west, where the grass grew earliest away from frosts. The sheep then returned east again in the autumn, back to the farmer or perhaps to market, having been well-fattened over the summer.
On October 4, 1921, the Caledonian Railway Company ran a special sheep train from various stations on the Oban Railway, eventually comprising of some 37 trucks, carrying about 1800 sheep in transit to the following day’s Perth sales, and also to Forfar, Stonehaven and Aberdeen.
Having reached Balquhidder, it had left again at 5.45pm, and so had 15 minutes in which to travel nine miles to St Fillans, and it approached the station about 6pm.
The Crieff Lines were all single track, which meant that in order for trains to pass one another they had to stop at various stations where a second line was adjacent.
St Fillans was such a station, and the sheep special was booked to stop there and await the train for Balquhidder from Crieff, which was approaching St Fillans from the opposite direction, where the two trains would pass each other and continue their respective journeys.
On approaching St Fillans from Balquhidder and the west, the line descends down a gradient of around one in 70 for a considerable distance
This is quite steep for trains which have smooth steel wheels, running on smooth steel rails.
As the train approached St Fillans, the driver and guard – Thomas Moyes from Perth – applied the train’s brakes to slow the train, ready to stop in the station.
However, on this occasion, it appears that due to slippery rails – a common occurrence, especially in autumn – coupled with insufficient brake power, the heavy train does not appear to have slowed to any great degree.
To prevent a collision with the Crieff train, the signalman – perhaps Adam Ferrer – routed the train behind the Up platform through a loop with a siding, and so towards a dead end.
Much of St Fillans Station has been hewn out of rock, and a large piece of rock stood behind the buffer stops which the train was heading for.
With no sign of being able to stop, the driver and fireman of the locomotive, who had stuck to their posts, jumped clear to save their lives before the train careered through the buffer stops and into the rocky outcrop.
The impact caused the locomotive and tender to be derailed and thrown onto its side, with the resultant shockwave sent through the rest of the train.
Of the following 37 trucks of sheep, some newspaper reports suggest that apparently only four wagons were left standing on the rails, while other reports suggest only 19 wagons derailed leaving 18 still on the track.
Of those derailed, 19 of them had telescoped into each other or were piled up on end.
The sudden impact had caused some of the wooden bodies of the sheep trucks to become detached from their metal chassis, and had shot forward into the wagons in front and, like a falling stack of dominoes, had decimated many of them.
The main running line was blocked with many wagons piled on top of each other, and was otherwise covered in debris and carcasses of sheep.
Many of the wagons had been reduced to matchwood, and all the sheep in those vehicles were either killed or so severely injured that they had to be slaughtered.
Butchers from Crieff and the surrounding district were requisitioned in large numbers to put an end to the sufferings of the poor animals.
Some sheep were thrown clear and those uninjured were turned into the adjoining fields.
Officials from St Fillans Station ran out to give assistance – probably including Station Master Thomas Buchanan – while help was also summoned from Crieff and Comrie. The first efforts of the helpers
were directed towards the driver and fireman of the upturned engine, and it was soon discovered that they, along with the guard, had happily escaped injury.
A newspaper report read: “The work of extricating the sheep from the damaged trucks was then commenced, with many pathetic incidents being witnessed, not least being the bleatings and cries of the poor animals in the ears of the rescuers.
“Many of the carcasses were removed from the scene by motor- lorries and railway dead-meat wagons, but a large number were buried in the vicinity, as putrefaction having set in, the stench was almost unbearable to the rescuers.
“Information of the disaster was immediately conveyed to the railway headquarters, and at a late hour on Monday night officials of the Caledonian Railway Company proceeded to the scene of the accident by motor car in order to ascertain the extent of the damage, and
to make arrangements for the clearing of the railway and the reopening of the blocked line.
“Breakdown gangs arrived by special trains from Perth and Motherwell, and were engaged all Monday night and the following morning, removing the carcasses and wreckage, with the line being cleared by Tuesday afternoon. Considerable difficulty was experienced in the clearing work because of the congested nature of the scene of the mishap.
“The smash occasioned a great sensation in the district, and the scene has been visited by many people.”
Looking at St Fillans Station today, it’s hard to imagine the carnage that must have unfolded back in 1921.
• If anyone knows the names of the train driver and fireman or has any photos of the scene, email crieffcaleyman19@aol. com or get in touch with the Herald.