Abbots Ripton

Now called the East Coast Line, back in1876 it was the Great Northern Line. There was a 3 train pile up on 21 January 1876, primarily due to the appalling weather; exceptionally cold and blizzard conditions. The line was worked in blocks, and signalmen communicated with each other by their block telegraph; in those days signals were set to clear by default, and only set to danger to protect something. The signals froze at clear, even though the signalman had moved the levers to danger. The communication wires also froze. So, the Scotch Express [later to become the Flying Scotsman] was travelling with 10 coaches and ran into a stationary coal train, later on an express travelling in the other direction ploughed into the wreckage. Amazingly, only 13 people died. BUT - the GNR adopted a different design of semaphore signal, and more importantly the modern practice of the default position for signals being 'danger' was adopted. So big lessons were learnt.

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