Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal, Ireland 🇮🇪 скачать в хорошем качестве

Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal, Ireland 🇮🇪

The Tragic Night of 30 January 1925 Disaster occurred on the night of 30 January 1925 at around 8pm at the Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal. Winds of up to 120mph derailed carriages of the train off the viaduct causing it to partially collapse. The roof of a carriage was ripped off throwing four people to their deaths. On that evening, an engine pulling two carriages, one wagon, and a combined van, was travelling on the  Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Burtonport Extension, opened in 1903. During the time the line had been open, there had been no serious accidents, and only two mishaps which resulted in fatalities. However, Owencarrow Viaduct was known to be dangerous in bad weather, and heavy winds were being experienced on that night. The train approached the viaduct, which was from 400 to 440 yards in length, at a speed of about 10 miles per hour. The 14 passengers had been enjoying the journey, having left Kilmacrenan Station at 7:52 pm, running only 5 minutes late. The Great Gust of Wind The driver had observed nothing unusual as he approached the viaduct – only that it was a very stormy night. When the train was a little more than 60 yards onto the viaduct, there was a great gust of wind, which lifted the carriage next to the engine off the rails. The driver applied the vacuum brake and stopped the train. When the train came to a halt, the back carriage, which had been lifted off, had carried the wagons halfway over the wall of the bridge. The other carriage was lying over the embankment, the covered wagon was lying over the coping, and the six-wheeled passenger carriage was tumbled upside down. Only One Passenger was Unhurt The gust of wind had lifted two of the large coaches from the rail and flung them top downwards on the parapet. Their roofs were smashed and by the violence of the impact, passengers were hurled from the carriages into the valley below. The masonry of the parapet gave way beneath the shock and stress, and masses of it thundered down upon the injured passengers. Despite all this, the engine kept the rails, and the couplings held, suspending the upturned coaches across the parapet. Of the 14 passengers, only one was unhurt – a Miss Campbell was flung from the upturned carriage, then deflected from the course followed by the other falling passengers, landing on soft and boggy soil, sinking knee-deep into it.