0:00:06 > 0:00:08100 years ago,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10during the First World War,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13a massive accident occurred in the south of Scotland.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Hundreds died in a raging inferno.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25The truth of what caused it has been shrouded in mystery to this day.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36This is very close to the border between Scotland and England
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and the fields here today are every bit as peaceful as they would
0:00:40 > 0:00:43have been at the outbreak of the First World War.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47But, by 1915, things were starting to change...
0:00:47 > 0:00:50on the sea, in the trenches and in government.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53The reality of the Great War was beginning to dawn.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Military disasters were plaguing the government
0:00:57 > 0:01:01and more men were desperately needed at the front line.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04The strain was beginning to take its toll on the government -
0:01:04 > 0:01:08who were hopelessly unprepared for the war - and on Britain's railways.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09And then, in May 1915,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13on the railway line that cuts through these fields,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17everyone got precisely what they didn't want - another disaster.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21CRASHING
0:01:30 > 0:01:34In a huge crash involving five trains, hundreds lost their lives
0:01:34 > 0:01:37trapped inside a burning pile of wrecked carriages.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44Nobody in the UK has heard about
0:01:44 > 0:01:45the Quintinshill crash,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47yet it was the railway's Titanic.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52In the investigations, inquests and trials that followed,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54the railwaymen on duty were imprisoned
0:01:54 > 0:01:57for causing the entire catastrophe.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Now, some believe there was a cover-up to prevent
0:02:01 > 0:02:03the blame going any further.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10There had been a deal struck and this deal meant that they were
0:02:10 > 0:02:14never going to get the defence that they would otherwise have expected.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'm going to look again at what happened,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20examine the case against the signalmen
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and see why the accident was so deadly.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Was this regarded as safe?
0:02:26 > 0:02:28First 106 coffins,
0:02:28 > 0:02:3353 of those were full of ash, essentially,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35incinerated bodies.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38I'm also going to hear the arguments that were never put
0:02:38 > 0:02:41in Britain's deadliest rail disaster.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05It's a bright, sunny morning on the 22nd of May 1915
0:03:05 > 0:03:08at Quintinshill near Gretna.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10There is little sense, here, that the country is at war
0:03:10 > 0:03:14and no suggestion at all that, in less than ten minutes,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17the pressures of that war will fill these fields
0:03:17 > 0:03:20with hundreds of dead and injured soldiers.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27At the nearby signal box on the main line between London and Glasgow,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30the signalmen have just changed shift.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38George Meakin has just finished his turn,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40leaving his replacement, James Tinsley,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43to deal with the traffic passing through Quintinshill.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46BELL DINGS
0:03:49 > 0:03:51See the price of eggs is going up again.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Waiting on one of the main lines just outside the box
0:03:59 > 0:04:02is a local train from Carlisle facing north.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07The only passengers on board are all five members of
0:04:07 > 0:04:10the Nimmo family from Newcastle.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Mrs Nimmo has left her two young girls with her husband
0:04:15 > 0:04:17to comfort her son, Dickson.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35At the same time, heading south are around 500 soldiers
0:04:35 > 0:04:39of the 1/7th Royal Scots Battalion on their way to Liverpool.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44As the railways are vital to the movement of supplies
0:04:44 > 0:04:47and troops, the government are now in charge
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and their specially commissioned troop train is late.
0:04:52 > 0:04:53Earlier that day,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58the soldiers had begun their journey at Larbert in central Scotland.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02It was a very local battalion, it drew its officers and soldiers
0:05:02 > 0:05:06from Leith, Portobello and Musselburgh,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09just down the coast from Edinburgh.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11They were very much a family affair.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Many fathers and sons,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and many had been in the battalion
0:05:17 > 0:05:19for 10, 12, 15 years
0:05:19 > 0:05:22by the time the war came. They were very close.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Technically, you had to be 17 to join.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28A number undoubtedly slipped through
0:05:28 > 0:05:32saying, "I'm 17," when I think some were probably as low as 15.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Nobody asked for birth certificates, they took their word for it.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40They'd been waiting since August 1914
0:05:40 > 0:05:43and now, at last, they were going to war.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48This is what they'd joined for - they'd been worried that the war
0:05:48 > 0:05:50was going to be over before Christmas
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and they might have missed out.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00The train had left very early in the morning,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02it had then been delayed by traffic,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05but then, when it gets onto the main line towards Carlisle,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08all the reports suggest that it is going very quickly indeed. That...
0:06:08 > 0:06:12People talk about it...70mph.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27BELL DINGS
0:06:27 > 0:06:29The prices only go one way.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33- Potatoes are going down.- Really?
0:06:33 > 0:06:37At 6:42, Tinsley makes the last of a series of mistakes
0:06:37 > 0:06:40that will have catastrophic consequences.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Best tonic medicine you can get. BELL DINGS
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Why do you think I need that?
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Nerve instability, influenza, indigestion,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50sleeplessness, exhaustion...
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Oh, that's a good one, exhaustion.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32From this moment on, the fate of hundreds are sealed.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45BABY BABBLES
0:08:09 > 0:08:12- Brake! - WHEELS SQUEAK
0:08:18 > 0:08:20CLOCK TICKS
0:08:21 > 0:08:23CRASHING
0:08:34 > 0:08:36The first to arrive on the scene
0:08:36 > 0:08:38fought their way to the main-line tracks.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40There, they found that the troop train
0:08:40 > 0:08:43had smashed head-on into the waiting local.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50At the centre of the crash was a terrible scene
0:08:50 > 0:08:52of crushed and splintered wooden coaches
0:08:52 > 0:08:54filled with hundreds of soldiers
0:08:54 > 0:08:56and the smell of escaping gas.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Some soldiers manage to free themselves.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Others are helped by uninjured troops
0:09:12 > 0:09:14arriving from the back of the train.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Any uninjured men, follow me!
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Then, only one minute after the crash,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25came a second disaster.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31CRASHING
0:09:38 > 0:09:41An overnight sleeper from London to Glasgow
0:09:41 > 0:09:43ploughed into the wreckage on the tracks,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48spilling yet more hot coals into the lethal mix of gas and wood.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Contemporary newspaper reports describe, in vivid detail,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00the horrors experienced by soldiers in the flaming wreckage.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05You almost only have to read the headlines to get a sense of...
0:10:05 > 0:10:09the disbelief and the horror. "Men Roasted To Death".
0:10:10 > 0:10:14"Horror Upon Horror". "Graphic Story Of Disaster".
0:10:17 > 0:10:20And the coverage just goes on and on.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Private James Arnott, he was interviewed
0:10:23 > 0:10:26while he was in Carlisle hospital with a broken leg.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30"He said that, when the second collision occurred,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32"the bottom came out of the compartment
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"and he, along with Private Arthur Colville,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37"Musselburgh, dropped down and crawled along
0:10:37 > 0:10:38"searching for a way out."
0:10:41 > 0:10:43PANTING
0:10:44 > 0:10:48- We have to go back.- Why? - We have to go back.- We can't.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50The report describes how the soldiers faced up
0:10:50 > 0:10:54to a dreadful death when they realised they were trapped,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56with flames both in front and behind them.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04Are you OK?
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Although James Arnott was rescued,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Arthur Colville perished in the wreck.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14"Suffering from a broken leg and other injuries,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16"he remained conscious
0:11:16 > 0:11:19"while he lay for several hours till placed aboard an ambulance.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22"During that time, he gazed on the horrible scene."
0:11:28 > 0:11:3015-year-old Peter Cumming was one of those that
0:11:30 > 0:11:32freed himself from the wreckage.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34John?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37"I was sitting still asleep in a compartment
0:11:37 > 0:11:38towards the centre of the train
0:11:38 > 0:11:40"when I was awakened by this terrible crash.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43"I remember realising that disaster had struck us
0:11:43 > 0:11:45"and my immediate thought was, 'It's sabotage.'
0:11:48 > 0:11:50"My first thought was for my brother."
0:11:50 > 0:11:51John?
0:11:51 > 0:11:54"And I began to search feverishly for him."
0:11:54 > 0:11:55John?!
0:12:05 > 0:12:10After some time, Peter found his brother, injured but alive.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18"When we got to Carlisle, I was frantic
0:12:18 > 0:12:20"and, although I had hardly any money,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22"I managed to stop a complete stranger.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25"I gave him three shillings, all I had in the world,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28"and begged him to wire my mother and tell her that my father
0:12:28 > 0:12:31"and I were all right, and that only my brother had been injured.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35"My brother died soon after."
0:12:36 > 0:12:40There's some upsettingly vivid descriptions
0:12:40 > 0:12:43of what people experienced.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47This is from Piper Thomas Clachers who said,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49"I had only just lain back to sleep
0:12:49 > 0:12:51"when all of a sudden, the carriages seemed to crumple up
0:12:51 > 0:12:53"like a melodeon.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55"Fire shot up right before my face, it must have been gas,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57"it was such a sudden and big flame."
0:12:59 > 0:13:00COUGHING
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Clachers was badly burnt but he managed to free himself
0:13:05 > 0:13:07and help others out of the wreckage.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Is there anybody there?
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Many of the trapped men faced a dreadful dilemma as the fire
0:13:15 > 0:13:20drew nearer. Some lost their limbs to doctors with carpenter's saws,
0:13:20 > 0:13:25some opted to lose much more. Clachers continues.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27"It was an awful sight, right enough.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"I saw a private lying under an engine tender with just his feet
0:13:30 > 0:13:32"and part of his legs sticking out.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35"He asked to be shot and, as he could not recover,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37"an officer shot him with a revolver.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43"Another private was caught between buffers and jammed
0:13:43 > 0:13:45"and fire was all around him.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47"I saw him cut his throat with his jackknife."
0:13:49 > 0:13:52For hours, the fire roared through the wreckage unchecked
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and the uninjured soldiers had to rescue those comrades
0:13:55 > 0:13:57they could, virtually unaided.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Soldiers that could not be reached faced a long wait
0:14:01 > 0:14:03for an agonising death.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Only after three hours did the local volunteer fire brigade arrive,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13completely ill-equipped for what faced them.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Frederick Tassell from Carlisle was one of the first photographers
0:14:19 > 0:14:20to reach the site.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25My father had been on the spot very shortly after the accident
0:14:25 > 0:14:27and started taking photographs
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and also helped looking after the injured.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32His son, Archie,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35arrived the next day as bodies were still being recovered.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39He recorded his memories of the crash in 1984.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41I was a boy of 15 at school
0:14:41 > 0:14:46and I went out on a Sunday morning hoping to get some more photographs
0:14:46 > 0:14:49but I received a tremendous impression
0:14:49 > 0:14:50of the general scene.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56It was the locomotives lying on their sides, the general smash-up
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and debris and, er...
0:14:59 > 0:15:03on the fields at Quintinshill adjoining the embankment
0:15:03 > 0:15:08there were 77 coffins covered with black cloth laid out
0:15:08 > 0:15:12in the sunshine and there were relatives moving about from coffin
0:15:12 > 0:15:15to coffin, lifting the lids, trying to recognise their dead.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26I've got a postcard here of the men standing for a roll call
0:15:26 > 0:15:27after the accident.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30They understood that it was their duty to go
0:15:30 > 0:15:32and fight on foreign fields.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34What they could not possibly have expected, though,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36was that almost half of their comrades
0:15:36 > 0:15:39would lie dead before they were even out of the country.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Grayton, AB.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Roxburgh, NS.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47The commanding officer graded the survivors
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and literally wrote their names down in a notebook.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54There were 55 soldiers and 7 officers,
0:15:54 > 0:15:5862 out of the 498
0:15:58 > 0:16:02who'd set out from Larbert who were uninjured or not dead.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Thank you Corporal Grayton, stand at ease.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08The ordeal for the survivors didn't end there.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12As far as the army was concerned, there was still a war to fight
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and these men were bound for the doomed campaign in Gallipoli.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18The...
0:16:18 > 0:16:24survivors after the roll call were taken by train to Carlisle,
0:16:24 > 0:16:30they got there late afternoon, fiveish, erm,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34went to the barracks there, were given a meal
0:16:34 > 0:16:39and an element of rest but, later that evening,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42marched from the barracks back to the railway station
0:16:42 > 0:16:47and went on down to Liverpool to join the troop ship.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Only at the 11th hour did the War Office change their mind
0:16:50 > 0:16:53and send the men back home to Edinburgh.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56It was an insensitive end to a dreadful day.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04The dead were buried throughout Scotland and the north of England.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11Among them was Mrs Nimmo and her son Dickson, buried in Newcastle.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17The driver and firemen of the troop train were interred at Carlisle.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22And perhaps the most tragic burials
0:17:22 > 0:17:26were those for people that could not be identified.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30Here in Glasgow lie the remains of four unclaimed children.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43But it's here, in a mass grave at the Rosebank Cemetery in Leith,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45that most of the soldiers came to be buried.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Many of the men had been recruited from the streets around here
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and it felt as if the whole town of Leith had turned out to watch
0:18:02 > 0:18:05the seemingly endless procession of coffins pass by.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14The funeral procession took three hours to complete its journey.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21There wasn't a family untouched by the disaster
0:18:21 > 0:18:26and it has always been there in the Leith memory.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30So what exactly happened that morning?
0:18:30 > 0:18:33How did two experienced signalmen get it so wrong?
0:18:34 > 0:18:39And why did so many people die in such dreadful circumstances
0:18:39 > 0:18:41so that they now lie in a mass grave?
0:18:45 > 0:18:49It was at the Board Of Trade enquiry, held only three days after
0:18:49 > 0:18:52the accident, that most of the facts came out.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56It appeared to uncover a catalogue of errors, mistakes
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and a blatant disregard for the company's rules.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Tinsley admitted that he'd been late to work that day, as he often was,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06and there was an arrangement between him
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and Meakin that they had practised many times before.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13From the moment that the shift-change should have occurred,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Meakin wrote the times of every signal
0:19:15 > 0:19:17and train movement on scraps of paper.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Tinsley then spent some minutes copying
0:19:19 > 0:19:21the train times into the register,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24so that a change of handwriting wouldn't give away their deception.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31There were more men in the box than were allowed.
0:19:31 > 0:19:32William Young, the brakesman
0:19:32 > 0:19:35from one of the goods trains, was warming himself by the fire.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39The suggestion was that there might have been distracting chatter.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Meakin made two errors.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45He did not block the line to traffic
0:19:45 > 0:19:49while the local train was on the line.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52He also didn't use a caller on the signal lever
0:19:52 > 0:19:55that would have prevented either man from later setting the signal
0:19:55 > 0:19:58to allow the troop train to enter the section.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05These mistakes meant Tinsley was able to send messages
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and pull the signal levers to allow the troop train to pass
0:20:08 > 0:20:10through the Quintinshill section,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13even though there was a train standing on the line.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21In his defence, Tinsley said that he just forgot the train was there,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24despite having got a lift on the locomotive only 17 minutes earlier.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29During the enquiry, the company was clear about its rules
0:20:29 > 0:20:33and the men were clearly seen to have broken them.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37After just one day of evidence, the enquiry was adjourned.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41On the 28th May, the procurator fiscal depute from Dumfries
0:20:41 > 0:20:43ordered that Tinsley be arrested.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Now, a century later, and with the benefit of hindsight,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58I'm going to take a fresh look at the case, starting here,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in Yorkshire.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09The Quintinshill signal box doesn't exist any more.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12It's been swept away by a tide of modernisation.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17But we can still see what it was like to work there
0:21:17 > 0:21:19because some of the boxes are still standing
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and the people inside them are still doing more or less the same job.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25And there's one up ahead.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27The signal box here has almost the same
0:21:27 > 0:21:30layout as the one at Quintinshill
0:21:30 > 0:21:34and one of the signalman inside has operated this box for ten years -
0:21:35 > 0:21:40around the same length of time as Tinsley and Meakin operated theirs.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43I would have just assumed that by now it would have been,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46I don't know, automated, electronic, all happen, push a button.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50I wasn't still imagining big, heavy, metal levers.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54I think, yeah, it'll be a good 50% plus of the rail network
0:21:54 > 0:21:56is still run with levers.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59You know, manually operated with bell signals.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02A set-up which will have been similar to Quintinshill.
0:22:02 > 0:22:08So what are the responsibilities of a signalman in a box like this?
0:22:08 > 0:22:11And are they the same now as they've always been?
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Pretty much so. We have to ensure the safety of the train.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17There's a list of rules and regulations as long as your arm
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and we have to just ensure that whatever goes on,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22we have to be able to run trains on time as best we can.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Do you know the first thing that strikes me as a surprise
0:22:25 > 0:22:29is the fact that when you are working these levers,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31you've got your back to the traffic.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I would just have assumed, if you'd asked me,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36that you'd be doing all this while you're looking at the track.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38I don't believe it makes any difference.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40I've worked in signal boxes where the frame is by the window
0:22:40 > 0:22:43and to be honest, you can't actually see as much as you do here.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45You do your business here and you can turn round
0:22:45 > 0:22:47and you get a full view of the train all the time,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49where if you can picture that being by the window,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- you are obstructed by the equipment. - Of course, yes.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55You're not really going to be seeing out of the window at all, are you?
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Aye, you actually do get a better...
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And when it comes to the view, in terms of the track layout,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03is that, again, more or less what was at Quintinshill?
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Two main lines, so it would have been exactly the same.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10So the two central tracks are for the trains coming and going?
0:23:10 > 0:23:11They are the mainline, yes.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And then the two sets beyond are temporary positions
0:23:15 > 0:23:18for them to wait for things to clear?
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Yeah, let trains pass them. Yeah.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Do signalman know about Quintinshill?
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Is that part of the lore of men working in signal boxes to this day?
0:23:30 > 0:23:32It's mentioned. When I was at signalling school it was mentioned
0:23:32 > 0:23:34and I know it's still mentioned to lads now
0:23:34 > 0:23:36when they go to signalling school.
0:23:36 > 0:23:37What happened there,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40it's an easy sort of thing that kind of happened, the distraction factor,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42but everything is fail-safe on the railway now.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Like, you couldn't possibly do that now.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47If you put yourself in the minds of Tinsley and Meakin,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52what do you think explains what they did and didn't do?
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Well, it's the old...
0:23:54 > 0:23:57We can go through it with signals, and people agree and disagree,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01the most dangerous part of our job, I would say, is shift change.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03- Why?- It's just, you are ready to go,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06you're passing on your stuff to your man and you need to listen carefully.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Stuff gets forgotten, but, like, them two,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10I think they've swapped over,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12they've had the distraction of the late-running train
0:24:12 > 0:24:14and they hadn't done their basic...
0:24:14 > 0:24:16These reminder appliances,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19that's all they are, but we're told to use them.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21- It's so simple.- Is this the collar? - That's the collar.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23You just pop it on a lever.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And that's there to remind you not to play with that?
0:24:26 > 0:24:27It's as simple as that.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29You can't pull that. Once that's on, stop.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31It's as simple as that and they didn't put them on.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38It's the simplest explanation.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The accident happened just after a shift change.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The signalmen clearly broke the rules and it was them,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Meakin and Tinsley, that caused the tragedy.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52But a century later,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57a similar enquiry would probably not come to the same conclusions.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00And it would start with very different assumptions.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07It's a very, very rare accident that has a single cause.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09NEWSREADER: Just after eight this morning,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11two packed commuter trains
0:25:11 > 0:25:13collided near Paddington station in West London.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16It was the worst rail accident in over ten years.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Unlike the Quintinshill Board of Trade enquiry,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23which heard evidence for only one day,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26the lengthy enquiry into this crash at Paddington
0:25:26 > 0:25:28found a wide-ranging set of causes for the accident.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33One of the features, looking at any major accident,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37is there will always be a whole sequence of events
0:25:37 > 0:25:39related to each other,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42one of which led to the other and, had that not been the case,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46the following wouldn't have happened.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48The unfortunate thing about major accidents
0:25:48 > 0:25:52is when you get to the other side of them, we've had the accident,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54we are looking back,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57we can all look at it and say it was inevitable.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00With the set of events that were in place,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03it was inevitable that that was going to happen.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06The extensive examination into events
0:26:06 > 0:26:08that led to the Paddington rail crash
0:26:08 > 0:26:11involved teams of forensic investigators.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Those advantages obviously weren't available to the people
0:26:16 > 0:26:19looking into the accident at Quintinshill.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25But one WA Paterson used the technology of 1915
0:26:25 > 0:26:28to lay out the undisputed facts on a simple drawing.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Directly outside the box were four tracks.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35The two main lines were at the centre.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38One northbound to Glasgow and Edinburgh,
0:26:38 > 0:26:40the other southbound to Carlisle and London.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45On each side, a passing loop allowed slow-running trains
0:26:45 > 0:26:47to be moved aside temporarily
0:26:47 > 0:26:51so that the fast-running trains could pass at speed.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57The crisis that confronts the signalman
0:26:57 > 0:27:00at roughly 6:30 on that morning
0:27:00 > 0:27:05is that two overnight sleepers from Euston to Scotland are running late.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08And a local train, which normally follows them,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10has been sent in front of them
0:27:10 > 0:27:14because of the need to make connections further on in Scotland.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16That then raises the question
0:27:16 > 0:27:19how the express is going to get past the local train.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22The overnight sleepers were the most prestigious trains
0:27:22 > 0:27:23running at the time.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25It was the quickest and most practical way
0:27:25 > 0:27:27of travelling from London to Scotland,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31and wealthy passengers were willing to pay to travel in style.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36However, the two sleepers,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39one for Edinburgh and one bound for Glasgow,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43had both been delayed before they had even left London.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And they were still running late when they departed Carlisle
0:27:47 > 0:27:51for the final leg north, now chasing the slow-running local train.
0:27:53 > 0:27:54After Carlisle, the best place
0:27:54 > 0:27:57that the expresses would be able to pass the local
0:27:57 > 0:27:59would normally be at Quintinshill.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04However, the pressures caused by extra wartime traffic
0:28:04 > 0:28:08meant that some passing loops were commonly blocked with trains.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12At Quintinshill, the northbound loop
0:28:12 > 0:28:14had been occupied by a goods train for several hours.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20And the southbound loop was about to be filled with an empty coal train.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22So you had an immediate conflict.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25You had had these long, moving slow, freight trains
0:28:25 > 0:28:28travelling at sometimes as slow as 15mph
0:28:28 > 0:28:31vying for paths on an otherwise fairly antiquated
0:28:31 > 0:28:35and outdated system, with express passenger trains
0:28:35 > 0:28:38who were timed to travel at 60mph.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It was Meakin's job to ensure that the expresses were not delayed.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47But as the passing loop was full, he had nowhere to put the local.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49His decision,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53it was something of an unusual occurrence, but not unheard of,
0:28:53 > 0:28:58and it actually made sense, was to move the local train
0:28:58 > 0:29:01when it arrived at Quintinshill across from the northbound
0:29:01 > 0:29:03line to the southbound line.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06You might say the wrong line.
0:29:06 > 0:29:07Keep it there for a while
0:29:07 > 0:29:10to allow the first of these expresses to go through
0:29:10 > 0:29:12and then shunt it back on to its proper line,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16send it further north where it could then be shunted aside again
0:29:16 > 0:29:22to allow the second Anglo-Scottish express to pass it.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24One of the things that's so incredibly important, I think,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27and it is part of the culture of the railway service,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31was the idea that you've got to keep the job moving.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33You don't want to be responsible for stopping the job.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36This, I think, is an imperative that is always there.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41The fact that there are two overnight sleepers leaving Euston
0:29:41 > 0:29:43very close together at what is the weekend
0:29:43 > 0:29:47clearly demonstrates the extent to which, in 1915,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50the railway companies were still trying to carry on,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53to a large degree, business as usual.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56So we've got the normality on the one hand but, obviously,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59on the other hand we've got the imposition of special traffics,
0:29:59 > 0:30:04which are clearly priorities for the war effort.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07And they included the late-running troop train that was now
0:30:07 > 0:30:09descending on Quintinshill.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15The War office decreed that this troop train was
0:30:15 > 0:30:19so important that it was belled as a 444,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22which is ordinarily only given to the Royal train.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Meakin had these trains coming at him from all directions.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27He had two priority expresses from the south
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and he had this extra priority train from the north.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Something had to give.
0:30:32 > 0:30:33It seemed that every train
0:30:33 > 0:30:37on its way to or already sitting at Quintinshill that day
0:30:37 > 0:30:40was, in effect, a priority - except, that is, the local train
0:30:40 > 0:30:43sitting about 60 yards from the signal box.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49The local had, in fact, been completely forgotten about
0:30:49 > 0:30:54when, at 6:49am, the troop train appeared, heading straight for it.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57CRASHING OF METAL AND SPLINTERING OF WOOD
0:31:03 > 0:31:04The government's war effort
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and the railway company's desire to maintain profit
0:31:07 > 0:31:09were in direct conflict and it was this
0:31:09 > 0:31:12that caused a logjam of trains at Quintinshill that morning.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18And those weren't the only factors that could have
0:31:18 > 0:31:20contributed to the crash.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24At the Ewart Library in Dumfries,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27are more newspaper reports of the disaster.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30This is especially fascinating for me.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34This is the Annandale Observer from May 28th, 1915.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37I trained as a journalist with the Annandale Observer.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41That was where I did my indenture as a cub reporter.
0:31:42 > 0:31:48It's great to see my journalistic ancestors covering this event.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50There's a big double page spread.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52"The Gretna Green Railway Accident."
0:31:52 > 0:31:54And it's all the sort of headlines you would expect.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57"Terrible Railway Calamity." "Double Collision."
0:31:57 > 0:31:59"Three Trains On Fire." "Soldiers Burned Alive."
0:31:59 > 0:32:01"Men Burnt To Powder."
0:32:01 > 0:32:04"I could have taken 12 of the bodies and put them in a riddle," a sieve,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06"and it would not have had a bit of flesh left
0:32:06 > 0:32:08"after I had riddled them."
0:32:08 > 0:32:11"Appalling scenes at work of rescue."
0:32:11 > 0:32:16All sorts of individually headlined stories. Indescribable scenes.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20And in these papers is one of the first suggestions
0:32:20 > 0:32:24that Tinsley and Meakin were perhaps not solely responsible
0:32:24 > 0:32:26for the disaster at Quintinshill.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29This is the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, here.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31This was our, one of our rival papers
0:32:31 > 0:32:34when I worked at the Annandale Observer.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38What's priceless in here is a letter that been sent to the paper
0:32:38 > 0:32:41by a railwayman, someone who is experienced in the industry
0:32:41 > 0:32:45and he's pointing the finger at the Caledonian company,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47saying that there are rules and regulations,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50but they are not necessarily for people's safety.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52They are so that the company can go through
0:32:52 > 0:32:54a kind of a hand-washing of responsibility.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56There's an excellent quote in here.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58"If they are broken and nothing happens,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02"the company is conveniently and consistently blind."
0:33:02 > 0:33:05And then, in case of an accident, the company turns round and says,
0:33:05 > 0:33:07"Our regulations are there
0:33:07 > 0:33:09"and we did not know that they were not being carried out."
0:33:09 > 0:33:12So you get a real sense that someone on the inside
0:33:12 > 0:33:15thinks that the company has to take some of the blame.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21So, was the company negligent in not enforcing its own rules?
0:33:21 > 0:33:24It seems they probably were.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28The evidence of Alexander Thorburn, Tinsley's supervisor and neighbour,
0:33:28 > 0:33:32implied that he knew about Tinsley's late shift change arrangement.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34He's inconsistent in his evidence
0:33:34 > 0:33:38about whether he was around at the time that the local leaves
0:33:38 > 0:33:43with Tinsley on board to take him up to Quintinshill.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46But if you look at his evidence overall,
0:33:46 > 0:33:51it is unimaginable that he didn't know what was happening.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54I mean, this is a very small railway community.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59The number of railway employees is not great.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02It's basically the station staff at Gretna plus a few signalmen,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06and his responsibility is to make sure everything operates properly.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Therefore, the idea that he would never have heard about this,
0:34:10 > 0:34:11I think, is absurd.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15The suspicion is that some of the other rules
0:34:15 > 0:34:17were also regularly flouted -
0:34:17 > 0:34:18and the company knew.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23I think what we find in Quintinshill,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26in the absence of further evidence,
0:34:26 > 0:34:29is what you'd expect any management to do in that situation,
0:34:29 > 0:34:34which is that senior managers in the Caledonian
0:34:34 > 0:34:39had a good idea that not every shift change in every signal box occurred
0:34:39 > 0:34:40when it should have done.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43That not every stationmaster
0:34:43 > 0:34:45was punctilious in making sure
0:34:45 > 0:34:47that the people under their jurisdiction
0:34:47 > 0:34:50stuck by the rule book all the time.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52The most obvious rule broken by Meakin
0:34:52 > 0:34:54was not using the lever collar
0:34:54 > 0:34:57that would have prevented Tinsley from signalling
0:34:57 > 0:34:59the troop train to come through.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01The lever collar is just a piece of metal
0:35:01 > 0:35:05you put over the signal lever to prevent it being pulled.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07They are available at Quintinshill
0:35:07 > 0:35:09and it's clear they're not used.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12It is also clear they very rarely were used.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It's perhaps worth noting that the Midland Railway
0:35:15 > 0:35:20didn't provide them because it would make the signalmen careless.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22It was not unusual for signalmen not to use collars.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Prior to 1910 the railway company actually actively discouraged
0:35:26 > 0:35:28signalmen from using these.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31They were considered almost namby-pamby instruments.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34The signalman's a professional. He should know where his trains are.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Why does he need all these fangled modern devices?
0:35:37 > 0:35:43That attitude continued throughout the railway even post-1910
0:35:43 > 0:35:45but signalman like Meakin,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47who had years of experience,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49were not used to using them, and the railway,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52most importantly, did not police the use of collars.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05The make-up of the train that carried the troops
0:36:05 > 0:36:07was also a major feature of the crash.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15And here in these sidings at Ruddington, near Nottingham,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19it's possible to get a rare glimpse of what the coaches looked like.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23All of the carriages that were actually involved in the crash
0:36:23 > 0:36:24are long gone,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28but in a shed over here there's one exactly like the rolling stock
0:36:28 > 0:36:30of the Great Central Railway that the government
0:36:30 > 0:36:32and the Caledonian Railway Company
0:36:32 > 0:36:34had organised for the movement of the troops.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Pat Sumner is one of many enthusiasts here
0:36:41 > 0:36:44who has restored this Central Railway carriage
0:36:44 > 0:36:45to its original condition.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53How many soldiers would have sat in one of these compartments?
0:36:53 > 0:36:57- They are built for six a side.- Right.
0:36:57 > 0:36:58So as many as a dozen...
0:36:58 > 0:37:01- A dozen people could sit in here. - Right.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06When you imagine the events of Quintinshill,
0:37:06 > 0:37:10what are the likely consequences of a compartment or a carriage
0:37:10 > 0:37:14built like this experiencing a high-speed collision?
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Well, this might look fairly solid on the top
0:37:18 > 0:37:20but in the collision,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24the stresses would collapse the bodywork
0:37:24 > 0:37:27and of course the whole train would telescope,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29depending on the severity of the impact.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31And so the men are sitting here knee-to-knee
0:37:31 > 0:37:33and they are just going to be crushed together.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Crushed and they would be thrown.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39And up here, this goldfish bowl up here, is that lighting?
0:37:39 > 0:37:44That would have been the gas lighting for the coach. Yes.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Fed from tanks on the underside of the vehicle.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50So all of the ingredients are there, aren't they?
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The compartments are made of wood, which tends to collapse on impact.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56They are packed with men who are going to get jumbled
0:37:56 > 0:37:57and thrown together.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Above their heads is a naked flame.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Below our feet are canisters of gas fuel.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05Yes. Yes, I'm afraid so.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07It's an accident waiting to happen.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10The crashworthiness of these coaches was abysmal.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13They were effectively reduced to timber.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15There were gas cylinders underneath.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18The gas cylinders exploded and this is what led to the massive,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21horrific casualties at Quintinshill.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Had the coaches been more modern, the normal standard for 1915,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26yes, there would have been casualties.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Yes, there probably would have been a fire too, but it wouldn't have
0:38:29 > 0:38:33been anything as bad as the horrific nature that we saw that morning.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41- Ah, so this big black cylinder here is the gas?- Yes, there's two of them
0:38:41 > 0:38:45and they would be filled with gas at the terminal station
0:38:45 > 0:38:47or in the carriage sidings.
0:38:47 > 0:38:53It does seem a bit dangerous to have a wooden train
0:38:53 > 0:38:56with gas bolted on to its underside.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Was this regarded as safe?
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Well, that was the technology that was available at the time.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04You are talking about Victorian times, of course.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07- Everywhere you look, there is something flammable.- Uh-huh.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12But, by 1915, there were already steel-built carriages
0:39:12 > 0:39:14lit by electricity.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19And, crucially, the continuing use of gas lighting
0:39:19 > 0:39:22had also been condemned as highly dangerous
0:39:22 > 0:39:24in two previous accident enquiries.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29It's arguable, too, that even in a time of war,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31when rolling stock was in short supply,
0:39:31 > 0:39:35these dangerous coaches could have been run more safely.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Had they only been travelling at a much lower speed,
0:39:39 > 0:39:4020 or 30mph,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43that would have greatly lessened the possibility of impact
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and, no doubt, a train travelling at that speed,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48antiquated though it was,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50probably would've avoided catastrophe.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56The Board of Trade enquiry was only the first of many.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01Further inquests and trials were held in both Scotland and England.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08One month after the accident, an inquest was held
0:40:08 > 0:40:12in Carlisle for the 27 men that died in the hospital there.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14The coroner, Thomas Slack Strong,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18paid little heed to the fact that the gaslit wooden carriages
0:40:18 > 0:40:21would have played a major part in the deaths of so many.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24The purpose of the coroner's inquest
0:40:24 > 0:40:29is to identify the causes of the death
0:40:29 > 0:40:33and to essentially determine if it was unlawful or not,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35but it's not a finding of guilt.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39However, Strong relied heavily on the railway company for evidence,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43and they indicated quite clearly who had broken their rules.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46These two chaps, George Meakin and James Tinsley,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48had caused this accident.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51It was made clear to everybody in the country that they had
0:40:51 > 0:40:54caused the accident, they were to blame.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58It was as if Strong was unwilling to explore factors
0:40:58 > 0:41:00contributing to the high death toll
0:41:00 > 0:41:03unless they could be ascribed to the signalmen.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05I suspect one of the difficulties
0:41:05 > 0:41:07for the inquest was actually
0:41:07 > 0:41:09working out what the purpose of the inquest was,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11given that this was a case in which
0:41:11 > 0:41:14there was going to be a subsequent criminal prosecution.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Nowadays we would expect an inquest or a fatal-accident enquiry
0:41:18 > 0:41:22to look at all the facts, not just the criminal negligence,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25if there was criminal negligence on the part of the people
0:41:25 > 0:41:27who caused the accident, but also what measures,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30perhaps more importantly, could be taken to ensure
0:41:30 > 0:41:34that if this happens again the consequences aren't as severe.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38But in 1915 the verdict of the inquest was straightforward.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40Manslaughter.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48The signalmen were subsequently charged with breach of duty
0:41:48 > 0:41:50and the killing of five of the victims.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54It was here, in Edinburgh's High Court,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56that the men were put on trial.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00It was a big case and it was being held only a mile or so from Leith,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03where most of the soldiers had been recruited.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06The Lord Advocate himself led the prosecution,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09and he called the Caledonian Railway officials
0:42:09 > 0:42:11to provide almost all the evidence.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16It is surprising that the bulk of the prosecution witnesses
0:42:16 > 0:42:20were coming from the Caledonian Railway Company. Er...
0:42:20 > 0:42:23The kind of witnesses we'd be looking at calling today
0:42:23 > 0:42:25would be rail safety experts
0:42:25 > 0:42:28who could come in and talk about whether the procedures adopted
0:42:28 > 0:42:33by the company were state-of-the-art procedures or not, and so on.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38No independent expert witnesses were called, however,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41either by the prosecution or by the defence,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43and everyone who gave evidence at the trial,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47with the exception of the policeman who arrested Tinsley,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49were on the Caledonian payroll.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52It's a curious case, because, erm...
0:42:53 > 0:42:58The strong sense you get is that the facts were not being contested,
0:42:58 > 0:43:00that by the time the trial took place
0:43:00 > 0:43:04a narrative had clearly been established that, er,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08the signalmen had been responsible for the crash,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12and there was no attempt to open up questions
0:43:12 > 0:43:18of whether the company was at fault in the use of the gas cylinders
0:43:18 > 0:43:22and the wooden design of the carriages or suchlike.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25So in some sense it's surprising to us that these kinds of issues,
0:43:25 > 0:43:31which we might expect to be relevant issues, weren't addressed at all.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34So why did the barrister defending the men,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38James Condie Stewart Sandeman, a leading defence advocate,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40not call on any independent witnesses
0:43:40 > 0:43:44or mount an effective defence?
0:43:44 > 0:43:50It's likely that the directors of the Caledonian Railway Company,
0:43:50 > 0:43:56the members of the Bar, of the legal profession, of the...
0:43:56 > 0:43:59in the senior ranks of the police forces,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02were of similar social classes.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04The legal profession at the time was very small.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08So, for example, if Sandeman had tried to challenge
0:44:08 > 0:44:11the way that the initial investigation had been done,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14these are the kind of claims that not only would have been
0:44:14 > 0:44:20completely alien to him but would have damaged, er, his...
0:44:20 > 0:44:24fundamentally damaged his career immediately.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29And so it's not surprising that these kind of issues weren't raised.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32I think those men would probably have been convicted
0:44:32 > 0:44:35even if they'd had a, you know, very persuasive barrister
0:44:35 > 0:44:36or whatever it was,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40but nevertheless, the poor did not get the same justice as the rich.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Tinsley and Meakin were found guilty and imprisoned.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46Meakin got 18 months but Tinsley was sentenced
0:44:46 > 0:44:50to three years of hard labour in Peterhead Jail,
0:44:50 > 0:44:51breaking rocks in a quarry.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59The fact that he was portrayed as a criminal is, erm, I think,
0:44:59 > 0:45:04a very unkind portrayal of this man. He was nothing of the sort.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06Something went wrong that morning
0:45:06 > 0:45:08that was to have catastrophic effects.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17According to the norms of 1915, justice had been served.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19Meakin and Tinsley were behind bars.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22But were the men just scapegoats?
0:45:22 > 0:45:24If one is looking for blame
0:45:24 > 0:45:27then one tends not to get to the truth so easily.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Did the focus on blaming the men in the signal box
0:45:32 > 0:45:36blind everyone to the wider responsibility for the accident?
0:45:36 > 0:45:39If this sort of incident had happened today
0:45:39 > 0:45:42then there'd have been a much greater challenge of...
0:45:42 > 0:45:45to the procedures of the company.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48But at that time, the apparent single-minded pursuit
0:45:48 > 0:45:51of the railwaymen meant very little thought was given
0:45:51 > 0:45:53to the actual causes of death.
0:45:56 > 0:46:02The use of old gaslit wooden rolling stock, a practice already condemned,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05clearly caused a very significant number of deaths.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12The condition of the carriages is poor and they are gaslit,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16which in the end contributes to something much worse than
0:46:16 > 0:46:19would have been the case even from a double collision.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22There was a strong suggestion that the company's rules
0:46:22 > 0:46:25were not adequately enforced or supervised.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30There was virtually no supervisory regime in existence
0:46:30 > 0:46:35on the southern district of the Caledonian Railway at that time.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38The railway company was determined to carry on business as usual,
0:46:38 > 0:46:39despite the war.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43There was a sense amongst businesses, including the railways,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47that things must continue. You know, we must soldier on.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50We mustn't allow this inconvenience of the First World War
0:46:50 > 0:46:54to actually affect what is otherwise a very profitable business.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Wartime pressure on the rail system,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59causing the passing loops to be used as sidings,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02left Meakin with little choice of what to do with the local train
0:47:02 > 0:47:04but use the most risky option.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07That, essentially, was the cause
0:47:07 > 0:47:11of what led to the disaster at Quintinshill.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It was too many trains piled into a small area
0:47:14 > 0:47:16with simply nowhere to put them,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19and huge pressure put on the signalmen to find a solution.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24And the late arrival of the fire brigade,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26taking over three hours to reach the crash site.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32All these were likely factors contributing to the crash
0:47:32 > 0:47:34and the appalling death toll.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Few were brought up or pursued in court.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Today we would spend probably more time investigating what, er...
0:47:43 > 0:47:47the culture they worked in, what the, erm...
0:47:47 > 0:47:51whether there were any particular circumstances
0:47:51 > 0:47:53associated with those individuals
0:47:53 > 0:47:58that might have led to them being distracted on the day.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02Tinsley's defence throughout was that he simply forgot
0:48:02 > 0:48:04that the local train was on the line.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09This has led some to speculate about his state of mind that day.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13There's obviously the possibility that he was simply distracted.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16It's a remarkable lapse of attention in that case, erm,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19to forget that the train that you've just got off
0:48:19 > 0:48:21is standing in the way of the troop train.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25The recent literature makes a significant suggestion,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29and this relates to the state of Tinsley's health,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32that there's a suggestion that he suffered from epilepsy
0:48:32 > 0:48:37and that there were serious issues about him getting there on time
0:48:37 > 0:48:40and that basically the whole rhythm was to accommodate him,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44and that possibly on the disastrous morning
0:48:44 > 0:48:48he was in fact suffering from the aftermaths of a fit.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Newspapers reporting the case
0:48:51 > 0:48:53describe Tinsley as suffering from fits
0:48:53 > 0:48:56and when he's been taken initially to the Sheriff's Court
0:48:56 > 0:48:59for his first court appearance,
0:48:59 > 0:49:03and then there was this strange, oblique reference at the trial,
0:49:03 > 0:49:08by the two men's advocate, Condie Sandeman,
0:49:08 > 0:49:10who says in his summing-up,
0:49:10 > 0:49:14"It would not have been culpable homicide, would it,
0:49:14 > 0:49:19"if he" - Tinsley - "had fallen down in an epileptic fit?"
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Now, why does he say that?
0:49:21 > 0:49:25There'd been no reference to epilepsy in the court case before.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28But he suddenly throws that into the mix.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31These short mentions of epilepsy and fits
0:49:31 > 0:49:35instigated a search by authors Jack Richards and Adrian Searle
0:49:35 > 0:49:39for more clues that might explain Tinsley's forgetfulness.
0:49:39 > 0:49:45There is one specific reference held in the Scottish National Archives.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49It is in the form of a scribbled note.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51On that scribbled note,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54which was written by the police in Dumfries,
0:49:54 > 0:50:00it specifically says that when the police go to arrest James Tinsley
0:50:00 > 0:50:06they are told by his GP that they cannot move him at that stage
0:50:06 > 0:50:09because his brain may be affected.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14He has been suffering from epileptic fits.
0:50:14 > 0:50:20If it is true that he had a grand mal - big fit -
0:50:20 > 0:50:23following the accident, erm,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26then that would be strong support for the possibility
0:50:26 > 0:50:28of transient epileptic amnesia,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33accounting for his memory loss for the local train being on the track.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39It is clear that, were he being tried now,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42much more effort would have gone into establishing
0:50:42 > 0:50:48whether or not epilepsy could account for...for what happened.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52So why does it appear that the Quintinshill accident
0:50:52 > 0:50:54was not looked into in more detail,
0:50:54 > 0:50:57that the authorities seemed determined
0:50:57 > 0:50:58to lock up the railway workers
0:50:58 > 0:51:02and not examine the many other causes of the disaster?
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Adrian Searle has an astonishing theory.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08We believe that a deal had been struck
0:51:08 > 0:51:11and it was a deal that really suited everybody.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15The deal was, we think, that Meakin and Tinsley
0:51:15 > 0:51:20would agree to take the blame, the entire blame, as it were.
0:51:20 > 0:51:26They would put up a defence, erm, mitigation, you might call it,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28but they would take the whole rap for this.
0:51:30 > 0:51:36In exchange, they would be "looked after" by the Caledonian Railway
0:51:36 > 0:51:42after the...the legal procedure had taken its course.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50This would explain why the Caledonian Railway re-employed both men
0:51:50 > 0:51:52after they came out of prison.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00It's an attractive theory, as everyone seemed to gain.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Meakin and Tinsley would have jobs to go back to,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08despite being convicted killers - although not as signalmen.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12The government would avoid all blame, even though
0:52:12 > 0:52:15they were in charge of the railways.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18And the company would have no-one looking at the way
0:52:18 > 0:52:20they ran their business.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23The only losers would be the travelling public.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30By the end of 1915 it seemed the affair was over.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35But some were starting to question the convictions of the signalmen,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37especially the harsh treatment of Tinsley.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42These were men badly paid, often with very limited technology,
0:52:42 > 0:52:45who sometimes have to take difficult decisions,
0:52:45 > 0:52:47and, if the decisions go wrong,
0:52:47 > 0:52:50on a good day it will simply hold up the traffic,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53on a bad day it will be something much worse.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Growing support for the union movement meant more people
0:52:56 > 0:53:00started to see the Quintinshill disaster in a different light,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03and the case of Meakin and Tinsley as a political one.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06It's very easy to put yourselves
0:53:06 > 0:53:09in the shoes of the Quintinshill signalmen.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11There but for the grace of God go I.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13That anyone can make a mistake,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16anyone could find themselves in the middle of a disaster,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19and then you would want sympathy from your workmates
0:53:19 > 0:53:23and you would also want the support of your union.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26It's not necessarily a... a political agenda,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29it's a sort of visceral feeling of sympathy.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35As the war progressed, news of military disasters like Gallipoli
0:53:35 > 0:53:39and on the Western Front were filtering through to the nation.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Those in charge were now seen as fallible.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43Revolution was in the air,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46and in Britain the government was under pressure.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49They were in trouble in Ireland, of course,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52because you had these two split communities,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56and they were in trouble at home with the suffragettes,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58the demand not only for votes for women
0:53:58 > 0:54:02but for the number of men who were also excluded from the franchise.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07And of course there was also industrial disputes.
0:54:07 > 0:54:08Jimmy Thomas,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11a leading negotiator for the National Union of Railwaymen,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15took up the case of Meakin and Tinsley for his own purposes.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Jimmy was a fixer. He was a negotiator.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20He would come out with deals.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23And everything he did in 1915 in the aftermath of Quintinshill
0:54:23 > 0:54:28I think is determined by the idea that he will do the best he can
0:54:28 > 0:54:33for his members within what's actually a very difficult situation.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39The Quintinshill signalmen were now pawns in a much bigger game.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43A power struggle was developing between the established order
0:54:43 > 0:54:47of government and an increasingly muscular union movement.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55The war is at an appalling stage
0:54:55 > 0:54:59and the last thing that any British government needs
0:54:59 > 0:55:02in the autumn of 1916 is a rail strike.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06Thomas certainly doesn't expect that there'll be a rail strike,
0:55:06 > 0:55:11but he is, as part of his negotiating ploy,
0:55:11 > 0:55:15presenting the genie in the bottle and saying to the government,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19either you cut a deal about the release of these chaps from prison
0:55:19 > 0:55:22or the genie will get out of the bottle
0:55:22 > 0:55:27and neither you nor I will be able to control the consequences.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Thomas had picked his moment well.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34On 5 December 1916, Prime Minister Asquith was ousted.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38Ten days later Meakin and Tinsley were also freed.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49At the time of the accident it was in no-one's interest
0:55:49 > 0:55:51to expose what had happened at Quintinshill,
0:55:51 > 0:55:56not the government, not the railway company and not the men involved.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00And dreadful casualty figures from wartime battles like the Somme
0:56:00 > 0:56:02soon overshadowed those at Quintinshill.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Since then, the story has remained forgotten by almost all.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11But not the rail industry,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15not the Royal Scots and not the people of Leith.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22Nowhere did we lose 216 soldiers
0:56:22 > 0:56:26within...100 miles of their home,
0:56:26 > 0:56:33having never got to the war they had so valiantly set out to take part in.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38And that is something which we will always remember.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50Even here, in the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh,
0:56:50 > 0:56:54where the name of every soldier who died during the war is recorded,
0:56:54 > 0:56:59there is no sense of how the men of the 1/7th Royal Scots
0:56:59 > 0:57:02died on 22 May 1915.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06However, there is a curious comment by each entry.
0:57:07 > 0:57:14And there's two brothers. James Sime and Robert Sime.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Both of them "Leith, Died Home."
0:57:20 > 0:57:23And there's one, "John Cumming, Leith."
0:57:28 > 0:57:30"Died Home."
0:57:34 > 0:57:38And there's another one. "Arthur B Colville."
0:57:40 > 0:57:42"Levenhall, Musselburgh."
0:57:46 > 0:57:48"Died Home."
0:57:54 > 0:57:57Officially, that "Died Home" explanation
0:57:57 > 0:58:01indicates that the soldier was killed on home territory
0:58:01 > 0:58:04rather than while fighting on a foreign field.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06But Quintinshill wasn't just
0:58:06 > 0:58:09Britain's worst ever railway accident,
0:58:09 > 0:58:13it was also a truly horrific disaster.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17So perhaps it's no bad thing that "Died Home"
0:58:17 > 0:58:21conceals the reality of what happened there.