It happened on a warm afternoon on 31 July'67, so I can only just have been posted in from Shawbury a few days before. There was a train crash on the NE Main Line near Thirsk.
RAF Leeming played quite a useful part in the subsequent rescue. One of our (dual) JPs just happened to be flying in the vicinity; they were alerted by the huge cloud of dust caused by derailed cement wagons tearing up the roadbed until the severed brake pipes could automatically cause the remaining parted halves of a goods train to stop.
They went over to see what had happened: it was plain enough to see that the two northbound (fast and slow) lines were blocked by wreckage. The "Thirsk Straight" is what it says, several miles of dead-straight track along which the passenger express drivers customarily "get the clog down".. They looked up and down the lines, and were horrified to see a long express about two miles south, running very fast, coming up on the now partially obstructed fast line.
There was no time to give any warning (even supposing that it had been possible to communnicate with the express driver), and they were helpless witnesses as this train, sparks flashing from the wheels under heavy braking but still travelling fast, come upon the obstruction. This threw the train off the line to the right, ripping the sides out of several carriages as it did so. It was clear that there would be casualties (in fact, seven killed and 45 injured).
Of course the Instructor was onto Leeming "Approach" at once; as he still spoke an Assistant was dialling 999. The Instructor could advise the exact position of the accident (a few miles south of Thirsk), and the apparent best road access for the emergency vehicles. And so it was that when a farm hand arrived, gasping, at the nearest farmhouse across fields a mile away to telephone for help, the blue lights were flashing on the horizon and the ambulance sirens could faintly be heard in the distance.
The time (23 minutes) to respond, doesn't sound all that fast, but then I suppose they had to came up from York, and would undoubtedly have been longer without our timely assistance. It was very good
PR for RAF Leeming, anyway.
Reference:
Thirsk rail crash (1967) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirsk_rail_crash_(1967)
Goodnight, all,
Danny.
Glad to be of assistance !