New pictures emerge of the Great Salisbury Rail Disaster of 1906

One of our photographs (kindly provided by Sharon Rocket) shows the wreckage of that terrible disaster which resulted in 28 people (mainly Americans) losing their lives.

As the news of the crash filtered through Salisbury, the railway station was inundated with people desperate to see what had happened.

The day after the accident, Mr. Fanner of the London Inn which was situated near the accident in Wilton Road, gave the following account.

“The smash was terrible. I at once jumped out of bed and saw a volume of steam, accompanied by a flash of fire, shoot up from the line – but in a second all was dark again.

“A moment later there was another momentary flash of flame, and this lit up the scene so brightly that I was able to see the wreckage and to form a slight conception of the catastrophe.”

It has never been fully established why driver William Robins took the sharp curve at such speed although plenty of theories have been put forward. Did the brakes fail, was there a medical problem, did the driver knowingly violate the speed restriction….?

The Board of Trade Inquiry was convened on Wednesday, July 4, just three days after the accident, when all the evidence was still fresh.

It was conducted by one of the Boards Railway Inspectors, Major J. W. Pringle, who concluded that the disaster was not attributable to any technical or engineering fault on the part of the L.S.W.R. Pringle was even more specific in exonerating the company of any fault and put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the train crew.

He summed up by saying: “I believe that, if the speed limit of 30 miles an hour through the station had not been exceeded, the disaster would not have occurred.”

But the question still remains unanswered, why was the train travelling at such speed through Salisbury Railway Station on that fateful night in 1906…?     

Words by Frogg Moody