The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Crash: 112 people lost lives when three trains collided at Harrow 60 years ago
A one-minute silence will be held in today’s rush hour to mark the 60th anniversary of Britain’s worst peace-time rail disaster.
Atotal of 112 people were killed in a horrific threetrain crash at Harrow and Wealdstone station in north-west London on October 8, 1952.
The one-minute silence will be held at the station at 8.19am as part of a 30minute memorial service at which the names of the dead will be read out.
Afterwards, Harrow Council is holding an event at Harrow Civic Centre to further mark the anniversary.
The accident happened when a night express train from Perth crashed into a London-bound local train which had stopped at Harrow en route from Tring in Hertfordshire.
Almost at once, a London to Liverpool express train passing through Harrow on the fast line struck the locomotive of the Perth train and derailed.
As well as the 112 deaths, there were 340 injuries, with the search for survivors carrying on among the yards of wreckage for many hours.
The many acts of heroism on the day included the efforts of American nurse Lieutenant Abbie Sweetwine, from a nearby US Air Force base.
Known as the “Angel of
“It is only right that we honour those who lost their lives”
Platform Six”, Ms Sweetwine treated patients at the scene in the same way as soldiers on the battlefield, helping to introduce the modern triage system to a fledgling NHS.
She began marking patients with a tube of lipstick. Those who had already been treated had an “X” marked on their forehead, and those who had been given morphine were given an “M”.
Hospitals receiving
vic- tims that had passed through her hands were quickly able to build up a basic idea of their treatment so far, helping to prevent overdoses of drugs like morphine and giving them a head start in identifying and treating the most critically injured.
Keith Ferry, who represents Wealdstone Ward on Harrow Council, said yesterday: “This is an important moment in history for both Harrow and Great Britain as a whole, and it is only right that we honour those who lost their lives, and those remarkable people who showed extraordinary courage to help and offer assistance in the aftermath.”