Settle rail crash

The Settle rail crash was a railway accident that occurred at Langcliffe near Settle, England, on the night of 21 January 1960 in which two trains collided, killing five people and injuring eight more.

BR Standard Class 7 No 70052 Firth of Tay was leading the 21:05 8-carriage express train from Glasgow St Enoch to London St Pancras. On the descent from Ais Gill summit, the driver heard a repeated knocking which he thought came from the connecting rods where they were connected to the locomotive's drive wheels. He reduced speed and later stopped the train in a gale-force wind while it was snowing at Garsdale, but was unable to find the cause of the noise. He continued south at what he thought was less than 20 mph; however, timings from the signal boxes showed the speed was 40 mph. The fireman on the right of the train then saw sparks from the side of the locomotive as ballast began to be thrown up against the cab. As the driver made a full brake application, an LMS class 5-hauled 20-wagon goods train passed in the opposite direction. The freight engine and eight leading wagons derailed, colliding with the side of the express, ripping out the side of the first three carriages and scoring the remainder. Five people were killed and eight more were injured. The accident happened near the village of Langcliffe, immediately north of Settle.