Tag archives for Adrian Searle
Britain’s Worst Rail Disaster – Quintinshill
Quintinshill Conspiracy The Quintinshill Conspiracy: The Shocking True Story Behind Britain's Worst Rail Disaster by Adrian SearleĀ and Jack Richards My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a forensic examination of Britain's worst train crash, which happened 100 years ago today. The authors got some material released early from the National Archives and also went through all the contemporary newspaper reports to painstakingly re-evaluate what happened. Their conclusion was that justice wasnt really done, and the normal inquiry process was cut short, probably because of the war. This meant that those truly responsible didn't face the consequences, nor were improvements in safety implemented as a result. The situation at Quintinshill was complex, the additional burden of wartime traffic, while still being expected to prioritise civilian express trains made life difficult for the railway signallers. The crash happened because of a…