Page:Report on the Shrivenham train crash of 15 January 1936 - MoT Shrivenham1936.pdf/2

 and a roof of wood; the frame was thrown out sideways, clear of the train, across the down line. The body was projected beyond its frame and rolled over down the bank, coming to rest almost upside down, with the remarkable result that the first 5 doors on one side, and 4 on the other, were still capable of being opened; but the 5 rear compartments were destroyed.

The second coach, an ordinary brake van, was also destroyed. Built in 1910, it had a wood body on a steel underframe. The leading coupling also became unhooked; the buffers were of large diameter round type. The frame forced the tender out of alignment, and the leading end came to rest adjacent to, and overhanging, the engine cab. Fortunately there was no one in this vehicle, and it had been converted from gas to electric lighting in 1931. The rear coupling remained coupled.

The third vehicle was a first-class sleeper. built in 1929, having a massive steel underframe, the body and roof being entirely encased in $1⁄16$in. steel plating. It withstood the shock very well, and, although derailed. it kept its alignment, and damage was not serious. No telescoping occurred, and the large diameter buffers appear to have contributed to this. The fourth vehicle, a third-class sleeper, was also derailed, but kept its alignment and was comparatively little damaged; it was of the same construction, built in 1929. The couplings of these two coaches remained coupled and suffered little damage. The other coaches remained on the road, but each was slightly affected as shown in Appendix I.

Some 220 yards of permanent way in the up and down lines had to be re-laid. Both were blocked for about 20 hours, viz., until 1.35 a.m. next morning.

The Company's main (double) line here lies in an east (Didcot and London) and west (Swindon) direction; the site of the collision was in bank, some 13 feet high, about 72 miles from London. The gradient in the up direction falls at 1 in 834 the whole way iron Highworth Junction, through Marston Crossing and Shrivenham, for a distance of about 3 miles.

The mineral train became divided on this falling gradient at 73m. 51ch., at which point, in the 4-foot of the up main line, a piece of drawhook (broken through the Gedge slot) of a Private Owner's wagon was found; the brake van and five wagons thereafter travelled by their own momentum, first, over about six furlongs of right-handed curve of 350ch. radius, and thence for five furlongs on tangent, until they came to rest at the site of the collision, 444 yards in advance of Shrivenham Station up distant signal.

The station has recently been reconstructed with four tracks, the signal box being located at the west end; the up platform line joins the up goods line at Ashbury Crossing box, at which point (beyond the east end of the station) the mineral train was diverted from the up main, to allow the express to pass.

The approximate distances from Shrivenham box to the other boxes, signals, &c., relevant to this case are as follows: