On This Day: 8 October 1952

At least 85 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in the country’s worst peacetime rail crash.

The accident happened at 0820 GMT at Harrow, a north-west suburb of London.

A London-bound express train from Perth ploughed into the back of the 0731 Tring-Euston commuter train as it was about to leave Harrow and Wealdstone station, on the London Midland region line.

Seconds later, a third train coming from Euston crashed into the wreckage.

Survivors described hearing a deafening sound like an explosion and then broken glass and debris flying everywhere.

John Bannister of Harrow was in the local train in a coach just under the footbridge at the time of the accident. He told The Times newspaper: “It all happened in a second. There was a terrible crash and glass and debris showered on me.”

He added: “I blacked out for a moment and when I came round I found I was lying on the line with debris on top of me. I managed to free myself and drag myself on to the platform.”

Harrow & Wealdstone Station

There were about 1,000 passengers aboard all three trains, with most causalities at the rear end of the Tring commuter train and the front coaches of the two express trains.

Some of the victims were on the platform as carriages full of commuters were hurled onto them. Others were killed on a footbridge over the track that was punctured by a pile of coaches 30-foot (9 metres) high.

Residents help rescuers

Rescue workers are battling to free survivors still trapped in carriages at the bottom of the pile-up.

Firefighters and police have been joined by railway workers and local residents.

The middle section of the footbridge has been cut away to free up the front two coaches of the local train which seem relatively undamaged. Other coaches have been cut through to bring out survivors and the dead.

Police officers occasionally shouted or blew their whistles for silence to listen for any signs of survivors in the wreckage.

The Queen and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, have sent messages of sympathy to the victims and the bereaved.