An account of the circumstances which led The Irish Mail, the fastest passenger train of its era, to crash into a goods train near Abergele, causing the violent death of 33 travellers, based on eye-witness evidence. 25 black-and-white illustrations.

Hanes yr amgylchiadau a arweiniodd at wrthdrawiad rhwng The Irish Mail, trên cludo teithwyr cyflymaf ei gyfnod a thrên cludo nwyddau, gan beri marwolaeth 33 o deithwyr, wedi ei seilio ar dystiolaeth llygad-dystion. 25 llun du-a-gwyn.

Britain suffered its worst railway disaster to date on 20 August 1868 when the fastest train in the country, the Irish Mail, crashed into runaway goods wagons at Abergele. The wagons contained Cambrian oil, a type of paraffin used in miners' lamps, and within a few minutes of the collision the engine and its passenger carriages were consumed with flames; thirty-three people lost their as lives.

Robert Hume first presents the disaster dramatically through the reconstructed voices of four contrasting eyewitnesses. Arthur Thompson, the locomotive driver of the Irish Mail, survived by jumping clear, having realized the nature of what was on collision course with his locomotive, whereas his fireman hesitated and was lost. George Grundy, a seven year old on holiday, viewed it all with his friends from a grassy bank above the cutting where the accident took place. The Marquis of Hamilton, a first class passenger who had boarded the train at Euston, survived at the rear of the train since new coaches were added to the front of the train when the engine was changed at Chester. Catherine Dicken, a cottager who lived near the scene of the accident and went to help, found that some of the upper class passengers ignored her entreaties to jump clear of the train - a fascinating commentary on the workings of the class system in early Victorian Britain.

The second half of the book deals with the aftermath of the disaster. A chaotic inquest was followed by a dignified funeral at St Mary's, the parish church of Abergele where a memorial to the victims of the accident now stands. The sixth chapter, the most substantial of the book, covers the fraught eight days of the inquest that delivered verdicts of manslaughter against the brakemen who had been shunting the wagons at Llanddulas Station and censured the station master for gross dereliction of duty. Identification of the charred remains of many of the victims had not been easy and a number of bodies could not be positively identified. The trial at the spring assizes in Ruthin the following year, however, found the brakeman not guilty and attention focussed on ways in which railway safety might be improved. One result of the Abergele disaster was the passing of the 1862 Petroleum Act that put petroleum products in the same category of danger as gunpowder, plague and diseased cattle.

This sorry tale of confused responsibilities between competing private companies and the attempts made to scapegoat railwaymen working under intolerable pressure following an appalling accident has a depressingly contemporary relevance that adds to the fascination of a tale well told. The book is enhanced with sixteen pages of black-and-white prints and photographs.

David Barnes

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.