Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2009 20:55:02 GMT
I was recently sent a query about a train crash between Steeton & Silsden - I found the answer in Ian Dewhirst book - A History of Keighley, I though some of you might be interested.
It happened on 11 October 1943 - when the Leeds to Edinburgh express train collided with a freight train which was being shunted into a siding. Wreckage was strewn across 200 yards
of the track and over the level crossing blocking the road between Steeton and Silsden. The Express train toppled
onto its side, it carriages overturned or derailed.
Ten freight wagons were smashed - two ending up in the station masters garden, scattering sacks of cattle cake intended for
Skipton.
Although the express was carrying some 200 passengers, there were no fatalities and only four people were briefly
detained in Keighley Victoria Hospital. Edward Bonner the train driver had been driving since 1908 without experiencing any
previous accident - he escaped serious injury by clinging to a rail inside his cab.
Mrs Little the Steeton, Stationmaster's wife, did the best she could for the shocked and temporarily stranded passengers.
It happened on 11 October 1943 - when the Leeds to Edinburgh express train collided with a freight train which was being shunted into a siding. Wreckage was strewn across 200 yards
of the track and over the level crossing blocking the road between Steeton and Silsden. The Express train toppled
onto its side, it carriages overturned or derailed.
Ten freight wagons were smashed - two ending up in the station masters garden, scattering sacks of cattle cake intended for
Skipton.
Although the express was carrying some 200 passengers, there were no fatalities and only four people were briefly
detained in Keighley Victoria Hospital. Edward Bonner the train driver had been driving since 1908 without experiencing any
previous accident - he escaped serious injury by clinging to a rail inside his cab.
Mrs Little the Steeton, Stationmaster's wife, did the best she could for the shocked and temporarily stranded passengers.
