LONDON TRAIN SMASH

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 398, 3 April 1937, Page 5

LONDON TRAIN SMASH

BETWEEN VICTORIA AND CLAPHAM JUNCTION. TWO CARRIAGES TELESCOPED. SEVEN PEOPLE DEAD, WITH MANY INJURED. QPress Association—Copyright.) Received 10.35 a.m. LONDON, April 2. A train crash occurred to-day between Victoria Station (in the heart of London) and Clapham Junction, in South London, one train crashing into another. There are seven people dead, and many injured. Both were electric trains. One had been held up by a signal. Two of the carriages of the stationary train were telescoped. The Fire Brigade, with extension ladders, was requisitioned to facilitate rescue operations on the viaduct on which the crash occurred. One carriage narrowly missed falling over the side of the viaduct, and another toppled across a live rail and caught fire, but this was speedily extinguished. Apart from a few screams there was little panic. There was a blinding flash at the moment of impact, but, fortunately, there was no fire. The uninjured had to face the ordeal of a Blondin-like walk along the edge of the parapet to safety. The guard of the stationary train was killed outright, yet the motorman of the oncoming train was unscathed. The services on the main lines were interrupted for a time. The cause of the accident is not known.