Manchester’s worst rail tragedy saw a train crash 70ft off a bridge into a river, drowning passengers trapped in its carriages
Scene of the Irk Valley rail disaster in August 1953
Regarded as Manchester’s worst ever rail disaster, a devastating train crash resulted in the deaths of 10 people when a train plummeted off a bridge into the river below.
The tragedy saw several passengers drown after becoming trapped in the wreckage.
On the morning of August 15, 1953, two ages collided when an electric train smashed into a steam locomotive in Collyhurst. The catastrophe happened at Irk Valley Junction, just over a mile from Manchester Victoria Station.
The electric passenger service from Bury bound for Manchester struck a passenger steam train travelling to Bacup in Lancashire. The electric train hit with such force that it overturned the steam engine and smashed through a parapet wall into the water below.
The front carriage dropped 40ft from the viaduct onto the river bank, whilst the rear portion of the train tumbled 70ft into the river itself. Jeremy Halls from Crumpsall was just six-years-old when the carriage he was travelling in with his mum, Margaret, plummeted into the river below, the Manchester Evening News previously reported.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News in 2010, Neil Robinson, who was aged 14 in 1953, described how he was travelling on the same train as Jeremy and managed to save his life.
Neil said: “I was heading to Wales on holiday with my twin Margaret and parents Thomas and Eva when the accident happened. I wasn’t badly injured but my father broke his back and my mother was traumatised.
“I remember being in the water and seeing bodies around me but that’s as far as my memories go back – perhaps I’ve tried to block it out.”
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Despite the unfolding tragedy, schoolboy Neil noticed air bubbles rising from Jeremy’s carriage which had become submerged beneath the water’s surface. He dived into the river and pulled Jeremy to safety.
Sadly, Jeremy’s mother was amongst the 10 fatalities from the crash, including the driver of the electric locomotive. Out of 106 passengers travelling on both trains, 58 sustained injuries, with 22 classified as serious.
The disaster happened on a Saturday morning at 7.40am; experts believe the death toll would have been significantly higher had it happened during a weekday.
On the morning of the tragedy, the Manchester Evening News reported that the deceased electric train driver, Albert Hardman, had been scheduled to retire the following year after 50-years of railway service.
Overturned steam train in the aftermath of the Irk Valley Junction rail crash. August 15, 1953(Image: Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archive)
The newspaper interviewed carriage maintenance worker Ben Edwards from Whitley Street, Collyhurst, who was arriving for his shift when he saw the crash happen.
He told the journalist: “After the coach crashed through the parapet, it seemed to hang by its couplings for several seconds before plunging into the river. I ran to a nearby fire alarm, and as I sounded it I could hear women and children screaming in the wrecked coach.”
The serviceman and other railway workers dashed to the river side in a bid to rescue any surviving passengers. They helped more than 30 people to the river bank before firefighters and ambulances arrived.
Seats salvaged from the wreckage were repurposed as makeshift stretchers, while many of the trapped and injured passengers had to wait until firemen equipped with axes and other tools arrived.
A 70-year-old survivor told a reporter: “I was in the second coach, sitting down. It was fairly full with people going to work and holiday makers on their way to the main line stations.
The rear of the passenger train became submerged in the waters below
“Suddenly the crash came and glass flew in all directions. We were thrown about in our seats and there was a momentary panic as the coach heeled over.
“Some of us shouted ‘keep calm.’ Then the man next to me opened an emergency window and we climbed out on to the line and made our way to Rochdale Road. There seemed nothing we could do.”
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Another survivor, 49-year old head shunter, James Deeks, said: “I was in the first coach and it felt as though we were being shaken up in a box. I tried to grab hold of a seat, but everything was jumping up and down, and the next thing I remember was being brought back to my senses by the cold water which poured into the compartment.”
Mr Deeks recalled his desperate attempts to free someone trapped in the wreckage, whose leg was visible above the debris. However, the person was submerged headfirst in water and there was little he could do.
Weeks following the incident, a report attributed the crash to negligence on the part of signalling staff, and an accidental death verdict was recorded.
Reported in the M.E.N. on August 27, 1953, Manchester Coroner, Mr Jessel Rycroft, expressed doubt over any evidence supporting a manslaughter charge in relation to the deaths.
Addressing the court, he said that the accident would not have happened had there been no breach of regulations by the three signalmen on duty at the time. He added: “There can be no excuse for their conduct. Nor could Hardman [electric train driver] be excused for the speed at which he was driving under the circumstances.”
The electric passenger train languishes in the river following the tragic crash(Image: Mirrorpix)
The driver, Albert Hardman, had missed the home signal and disregarded the distant signal as it was set to caution, which was typically cleared by the time he reached it.
The signal staff were also found culpable for failing to ensure the electric train had stopped before allowing the steam train through. Despite the absolute block system being in place, it was not being operated according with regulations.
Records disclosed that signal boxes in the vicinity had frequently operated outside the guidelines without serious consequence up until that fateful morning.