1847 - Catastrophe on the Dee

 

Go a ten minute walk along the racecourse; towards the bridge that carries trains over the Dee and you can see the site of a terrible accident that happened on the Chester to Holyhead line.

On the 24th May 1847 the 6.15 train from Chester never reached its destination in Ruabon. As it was passing over the final span, the outer girder cracked and the carriages fell through the bridge.

Peter R Lewis Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis said:

"The driver described how he felt the train sinking beneath him, so he put on full steam and just reached the far bank with the tender. However, all the carriages fell about 36 feet...killing four passengers and injuring many more. The stoker was killed when thrown off the tender, which was derailed."

The famed engineer Robert Stephenson designed the bridge, and ironically maintenance was carried out that very day to avoid the exposure of bare wood to sparks, which destroyed a bridge on the Great Western Railway.

However, the accident was caused by the overload of ballast. The extra dead load on one girder would have been nine tons.  jw