In 1934, Easter Monday fell on April 2nd. It dawned fine and bright, as several hundred passengers boarded the excursion train that departed Nottingham around 7.30am, bound for Marylebone in London.
The uneventful journey came to a dramatic and sudden end shortly after 10.00am. The train was brought to a halt at a signal while crossing a bridge over the Kilburn High Road. It was about to start off again, when it was rammed from behind by a light engine travelling at around 15mph. The rear carriage was telescoped for about half its length, and by absorbing most of the impact, only limited damage was caused to the remaining carriages, mainly broken glass that showered on the passengers.
The event at the Albert Hall
Most of the passengers were members of the Elim Four Square Gospel Alliance, planning on attending the Alliance’s annual conference at the Albert Hall. Their home in Nottingham was a chapel in Halifax Place. Founded in 1915 by George Jeffreys as the Elim Pentecostal Church, the name ‘Elim’ recalls the oasis where Moses and the Israelites camped on their long journey to the Promised Land. In 1931, 10,000 people attended the Elim meeting at the Albert Hall and 200 were baptized in a specially installed mobile water tank.
Photos of Four Elim baptisms
The Kilburn accident
Thankfully, no one was killed, but Walter Stevens the driver of the light engine was badly hurt and taken to hospital with a broken pelvis after he was released from his cab. He had attempted to stop by applying his brakes but was too late to avoid the collision.
When the excursion train stopped at the signal, there were about 20 people in the last two carriages. These had individual compartments linked by a corridor that ran the length of the carriage. Many had never been to London before and were very keen to get to the meeting. One passenger said, ‘several of us thought it was a station’, so they left their seats and went forward, to be able to leave the train more quickly when it arrived at Marylebone.
Ida Beet told a reporter, ‘We were moving towards the front of the train and none of us sustained any serious injury. Just previously dozens of young people had gone forward and thus escaped what must have been certain death’. Press reports said around 50 passengers sustained minor injuries, the official enquiry into the accident said 17, and while some attended hospital, none were detained.
The only person left in the rear carriage was the guard Beach, but fortunately he saw the approaching engine and threw himself out onto the track before the crash. A second accident was prevented by the prompt action of an off-duty guard, who ran down the track and managed to stop an approaching train, just 100 yards short of the crash.
The injured
30-year-old Percy Smith said he’d leaned out of the window when the train stopped and saw the engine coming. ‘I jumped back into the compartment. A second or two later there was a tremendous crash. The six people in my compartment were thrown in a heap as everything seemed to collapse’.
Local doctors rushed to the scene to find many suffering from shock or knocked-out teeth, and like Percy, cuts and bruises to the head and face. One woman sat with her head bound in wet towels, waiting for an ambulance. ‘The scene at the side of the track quickly resembled a hospital clearing station. Men and women were sitting about holding their heads or examining injuries to their legs’.
Others made it down to street level where they were helped by local shopkeepers. Unusually, the busy road was almost free of traffic and pedestrians. Although the buffer of the light engine, a carriage door and other debris hurtled over the bridge onto the Kilburn High Road below, as well as cascades of water from the steam engine tank, no one was hurt.
Mr Gluck, a taxi driver waiting at the rank outside the station said, ‘there was a terrific crash like an explosion’. He looked up and saw the light engine leap five or six feet into the air before crashing into the train. ‘Woodwork and pieces of steel were flung over the bridge into the main road which was completely blocked’.
The shaken passengers, many wearing bandages or sticking plasters, managed to get to the Albert Hall meeting. It was opened by Principal George Jeffreys and when he told the audience how their fellow worshippers had narrowly escaped death, loud cries of ‘A miracle’! ‘Hallelujah’! and ‘Praise the Lord’! echoed round the Hall.
It was my fault - the light engine driver
The telescoped coach was broken up on the bridge and the damaged train (minus the last coach) was able to complete the journey to Marylebone. Both main lines were cleared and reopened later that same day. The driver of the light engine, 51-year-old Walter Stevens (sometimes incorrectly spelled Stephens), lived in Willesden and had been a driver for 15 of his 31 years’ employment.
The enquiry into the crash said he had attempted to stop when he saw the passenger train and described him as having ‘a good record and regarded as a capable and reliable driver’. However, it concluded that despite some extenuating circumstances, the crash was down to his negligence in not maintaining a continuous lookout, which meant he failed to stop when he should have done at a signal and was driving too fast. To his credit, Stevens ‘gave his evidence very frankly, and did not attempt to conceal the facts’. This, plus the fact that there were no fatalities or serious injuries (apart from himself), may account for the fact Walter was still employed as a train driver five years later.
Here is a short Pathe film clip showing the crashed train on the bridge.
There are several sites providing information about the Elim Pentecostal Church including Wikipedia.
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