Abergele rail disaster

The Abergele rail disaster, which took place near the town of Abergele, on the north coast of Wales in 1868, was, at the time, the worst railway disaster yet in Britain, and also the most alarming. The Railway News said of it

Narrative

The Irish Mail

On 20 August 1868, at 7.30 a.m., the London and North Western Railway's down day Irish Mail train left the LNWR's London terminus Euston Station for Holyhead. One of the railway's most powerful engines Prince of WalesClearly from contemporary pictures of the crash a 2-2-2 and therefore presumably one of the 'Problem' class hauled behind it a chief guard's van, a travelling post office (mail van and tender), a luggage van , four passenger carriages, and a second guards van at the rear of the train. At 11.30 a.m. in Chester, four more passenger carriages were attached immediately behind the front guards van; the train then set off for Holyhead,...
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