Armagh rail disaster
The Armagh rail disaster happened on 12 June 1889 near Armagh, County Armagh, in Ireland, when a crowded Sunday school excursion train had to negotiate a steep incline; the steam locomotive was unable to complete the climb and the train stalled. The train crew decided to divide the train and take forward the front portion, leaving the rear portion on the running line. The rear portion was inadequately braked and ran back down the gradient, colliding with a following train.
| Armagh rail disaster | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | June 12, 1889 c. 10:45 |
| Location | Armagh, County Armagh, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 54°21′39″N 6°36′45″W |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Line | Armagh-Newry line (closed 1933) |
| Incident type | Collision |
| Cause | Runaway (inadequate application of manual brakes) |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Passengers | c. 940 |
| Deaths | 80 |
| Injured | 260 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
Eighty people were killed and 260 were injured, about a third of them children. It was the worst rail disaster in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century, and to this day remains the worst railway disaster in Irish history. It is the fourth worst railway accident in the history of the post-independence United Kingdom.
At the time, the disaster led directly to various safety measures becoming legal requirements for railways in the United Kingdom. This was important both for the measures introduced and for the move away from voluntarism and towards more direct state intervention in such matters.