Continuing some little known, Blantyre stories from the year 1900. On Monday 5th November 1900 a locomotive derailed in Low Blantyre.
The 2.50pm passenger train from Hamilton to Glasgow was about 80 yards west of Craighead junction, passing the bottom of Forrest Street, and around a quarter of a mile from Blantyre Station.
At that location, the locomotive engine suddenly left the tracks at speed and ran for about 600 yards. However, the passenger carriages behind all stayed on the tracks being pulled along by the runaway engine and it ripped up the railway verges.
Eventually coming to a halt, the passengers slowly got out, shaken but generally uninjured. The line was closed, railway traffic having to solely use the opposite line.The breakdown gang had arrived quickly at 3.30pm and by 8.00pm that evening, the locomotive, train and blockage had been cleared.
Its difficult to imagine a train derailment in Blantyre at any time, but incredibly this wasn’t the first time this had happened, nor the last!
Photo Illustration: Courtesy Blantyre Project AI Generated.
