One of Manchester's worse rail disasters that saw train plummet into river below leaving 10 dead and 58 hurt
27.08.2023 - 08:05
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
This month marked the landmark anniversary of one of Manchester's worst ever rail disasters. Two trains crashed on a viaduct sending one plummeting into the river below, drowning a number of passengers trapped in the wreckage.
70-years ago, an electric train crashed into a steam train in Collyhurst on the morning of August 15, 1953. The accident happened at Irk Valley Junction, just over a mile from Manchester Victoria Station.
The electric passenger train from Bury heading to Manchester collided with a passenger steam train travelling to Bacup. The electric train struck, overturning the steam engine and smashed through a parapet wall.
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The front carriage plunged 40ft off the viaduct onto the river bank, while the rear of the train fell 70ft into the river itself. Jeremy Halls from Crumpsall was just six-years old when the carriage he was travelling in with his mum, Margaret, plummeted into the river below.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News in 2010, Jeremey told how a fellow passenger saved his life. Neil Robinson was 14-years old when he was travelling on the same ill-fated train as Jeremy.
Neil told the M.E.N: "I was heading to Wales on holiday with my twin Margaret and parents Thomas and Eva when the accident happened. I wasn’t badly injured but my father broke his back and my mother was traumatised.
"I remember being in the water and seeing bodies around me but that’s as far as my memories go back – perhaps I’ve tried to block it out."
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Despite the unfolding horror, schoolboy Neil spotted bubbles coming up from Jeremy's coach which was