HAVERTHWAITE ACCIDENT ON THE FURNESS LINE A violent collision occurred at Finsthwaite Lane Bridge on the Furness railway about half-past seven o'clock on Saturday morning. A party of workmen from the engineers department had been replacing iron girders with some of stronger and heavier construction at the bridge in question, and the work had necessarily to be done at night when no trains are running. They had a ballast train with them which was composed of workman's vans, tool vans, travelling cranes and the like. At about seven o'clock on Saturday morning the bridge was completed and the engine of the workmen's train was sent down to Haverthwaite Station with the old girders that had been taken out. The engine driver afterwards returned for the remainder of the train which had been left standing on the main line at the bridge, but for some reason or another he seems to have forgotten the place where he had left the train, and although it was broad day light he did not observe the standing vehicles until too late to avert a collision. The impact was so great that flying metal and woodwork were strewn around the place. One van was literally smashed to atoms, and one of the powerful cranes of 20 tons weight was thrown off the line and smashed. Insp. Harris who was in charge of the work was, together with Mr. John Rawlinson, stonemason, in a brakevan, at the extreme end of the train, partaking of breakfast. Both these men were severely shaken, and although the brakes were all on, and the wheels of the van could not revolve, the frightful force of the collision knocked three heavy vehicles for a distance of 80 yards up the line. At the moment of impact the engine was exactly on the bridge, and it speaks volumes for the new work when a thorough subsequent examination revealed the fact that no part of the work had been disturbed. The line was blocked for five hours, and passengers were transferred at the point of the obstruction from one train to another, these arrangements being conducted by the stationmasters at each end of the disturbed section. THE WESTMORLAND GAZETTE - SATURDAY 11th NOVEMBER 1899 http://keswick.ww1.googlepages.com/keswickatwar
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