Accident at Bray Head in 1867

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Railway Accident at Brayhead in 1867

Image from Illustrated London News 1867-08-24: Vol 51 Issue 1442, Page 1

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Scene of Accident at Brayhead 1867

It was on Friday the 9th of August 1867 (only twelve years after the opening of the Bray to Wicklow section of the Railway) that a tragic accident occurred at an area known as Ram Scalp, part of Bray head, a short distance from Greystones, when the train coming from Enniscorthy and on route to Dublin went off the rails with many carriages and the engine falling over a bridge and crashing into the water beneath. Rumours at first recorded all were killed except one, later it was reports suggested that 30 persons were killed. It was later recorded that two people were tragically killed.

The Accident

The train with engine and five carriages and a guard’s van, left Enniscorthy at 6.30am and was due in Bray at around about 9.30am. The train left Greystones Railway station at 9.30 am on time and as usual moved out of Greystones and started slowly to move around Bray Head. Though when it was coming near the wooden bridge at Ram Scalp, the acting guard on the train, heard a knock on his van and then noticed the carriages were hopping on the rails.  He quickly put on his breaks. The engine continued slowly and then went off the railway line and broke through the side of the bride and fell thirty or forty feet into the chasm beneath. The engine also dragged down a third-class carriage which was shattered in pieces at the bottom of the ravine. Another carriage also fell on end and supported another carriage which was hanging over the bridge from falling. The rest of the train remained on the line. Immediately the men in the unaffected carriages on the rail line went to assist those who lay injured among the smashed or damaged carriages and messages were sent to the nearest stations of Bray and Greystones and assistance was prompt. The first doctor to the seen would appear to have been Dr Ross of the 92^nd Highlanders. The railway surgeon George Porter was sent down on the 11.30 am train. Assistance was made more difficult, as access from sea was impossible, as the cliff near the sea was too steep to get access.

One passenger was killed at the spot of the accident, while another died four days latter in Hospital. Many passengers were greatly injured including the train driver and the stoker. Two other passengers were so badly injured it was thought at the time they may not recover, they were Mrs. Williams of Streamstown and Mrs. Jordan. Other passengers brought to hospital injured were a Mrs. Donnelly and a Mrs. Fields both of Gorey, a Mrs. Reilly of Ballyamahon, Mr. Doyle of Wicklow, G Toner, Mrs. Jordon of Rathdrum, Mr. Foley of College Green, Miss Critchley of Bray, Jane Cummins, Anne Stringer, Ellen Cummins and Mary Williams. Among those who were on the train, but uninjured included Greystones resident Mr. Lucius H Deering, Thomas Walsh of Seaview and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bombay.

The Bridge

The area known as Ram Scalp was opposite the Bramstone Tunnel and was a wooden bridge 300 feet in length at 75 feet perpendicular altitude and supported on buttresses of masonry. It was one of two wooden bridges that formed the railway along Bray Head.

What was the cause of the accident

It was recorded in the investigation into the accident that an accident had occurred near the place of the accident on the 25^th of April 1865. In the magazine The Builder of the 31^st of August 1867 it was recorded that after an inspection at the scene, it was found that a new rail was fitted in at the curve of the railway line, about half an inch narrower than the old plate it replaced. This caused an obstruction in the railway line with the result that the wheel was raised off the rail. This may have been the cause of the accident though a rigid investigation of the accident was needed.

Deaths

Mr. Murphy

Mr. Michael Joseph Murphy’s body was found lying beside the engine at the scene of the accident. He was a shopkeeper from Tinahely County Wicklow. He was the father of eleven children.

Mrs. Hackman

This was Mrs. Catherine Field Hackman of Greystones. She died of head injuries, four days after the accident in Loughlinstown Infirmary, she was sixty years old.

Bibliography

Terrible Railway Accident at Bray Head – A Train thrown over a Bridge, Cambridge Chronicle and Univerersity Journal (Isle of Ely Herald and Huntingtonshire Gazette), 17^th August 1867

MacAongusa, Brian – Broken rails: crashes and sabotage on Irish railways, Currach, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 2005

The Accident on the Dublin and Wicklow Railway, The Illustrated London News 24^th of August 1867: Vol 51 Issue 1442

Wicklow and Wexford Railway, Reports of the  Inspecting Officers of the Railway Department to the Committee of Privy Council for Trade upon Certain Accidents which have occurred on Railways, Dublin, Accounts and Papers: Thirty five volumes, Railways Board of Trade Reports, Turnpikes, Highways, Session 19 November 1867 – 31 July 1868, Vol. LXII,