Train Crash

A Memory of Milton Malsor.

On April 18 1967 I was on a train travelling from Northampton to London. It was a sunny April afternoon, with a few small white clouds drifting across the sky. The train was about a quarter full and we rattled along peacefully until we reached a point just east of Milton Malsor.

Suddenly there came the urgent sound of a train's siren blasting repeatedly, followed by violent braking, then the rending of metal and smashing of glass. The train shuddered and vibrated and I got down on the floor, thinking this the safest place. As crouched there I vividly remember dust particles dancing up and down as we shuddered to a halt, and the pipe of a man who had been smoking near me go bouncing past my nose.

We had collided with an empty coal train travelling north, and many wagons were derailed and flung into a heap. Our front powered carriage was derailed and pitched down an embankment. After a long stillness and silence we passengers carefully climbed off the train and down the embankment into a field. We did this with some care as the gantries holding the overhead power lines were down and wires were everywhere.

First on the scene was a solitary policeman in a little patrol car but, astonishingly, and this is the point of my story, many ladies carrying a tea urn and cups were next to arrive, and proceeded to sustain us. My understanding is that they were at a meeting in Milton Malsor (WI?), had seen the crash, and hurried to the scene.
British Rail people and ambulances eventually arrived and officialdom took over.

Fortunately there were no fatalities, but there were several people quite badly injured including our driver. The accident was reported in the national press next day, with photographs, but the press seemed more interested in the presence on the train of Lady Somebody, one of the Queen's Ladies-in Waiting (uninjured).

I salute the resourceful ladies of Milton Malsor and district for their actions on that day 43 years ago, and wonder if any survive who remember this event.

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