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16-536: The Browney Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1887, to seat 270, and cost £400. Browney Colliery (mining) officially closed in 1938. The Browney rail crash of 1946 killed 10 people. Browney British School (now Browney Academy) was built in 1881 by the colliery owners, and consisted of mixed and infants, with accommodation for 407 in all. The average school attendance was 309 in 1892. Literacy in Browney The Browney colliery reading room and library were provided by

32-412: A signal was at danger adjacent to Bridge House signal box. The relief operator for the signal box at Ferryhill , 7 miles (11 km) south, got on the train telling the driver of his destination and informed him that this was an official journey. When the train restarted, the signalman at Bridge House box, saw that the train had split between the seventh and eighth wagons, and so notified the signaller in

48-526: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Browney rail crash The Browney train crash occurred near to the Browney signal box on the East Coast Main Line , County Durham , England on 5 January 1946. A southbound goods train split in two, with the rear portion accelerating downhill and crashing into the front portion of the train, which had been stopped by the signaller to inform

64-417: Is on a rising gradient, so the runaway rear portion of the train would come to a halt. At the inquest, the investigating officer stated as much, but the signaller decided against this for three reasons; he thought the rear portion would stop on the level section by Littleburn Signal Box, he wanted to avoid the possibility of a collision on Croxdale Viaduct, and if he prevented the train going further south, then

80-499: The church has since been restored and reroofed. In 1924, Harry Colt laid out a golf course on the deer park which formed part of the estate surrounding the castle. A club house was created from the old coach house and stables and remains in use by Brancepeth Castle Golf Club. [REDACTED] Media related to Brancepeth at Wikimedia Commons 54°44′N 1°39′W  /  54.733°N 1.650°W  / 54.733; -1.650 This County Durham location article

96-425: The civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 414. The name likely derives from "Bran's Path", after St Brandon, the parish church's patron saint. According to another story, the village's name is said to derive from " Brawn 's Path". There is a legend that Brancepeth was once terrorised by an enormous brawn (boar), which was eventually killed by a knight named Sir Roger de Ferie in 1208. A commemorative stone marks

112-573: The driver that the train was split into two. The wreckage of the goods train was then hit by an express train heading north from London King's Cross , killing ten people and seriously wounding 18 others. A goods train hauling vacuum-braked wagons, left Low Fell in Gateshead at 4:30 am, southwards for Doncaster , on 5 January 1946. The train was signalled to proceed south on the East Coast Main Line. Just south of Durham railway station,

128-409: The express running in the down (opposite) direction, towards Newcastle. The signalman at Browney halted the goods train at his signal box believing that the rear portion of the train would come to a stand on the rising gradient near to Littleburn Signal Box, which was the only level or rising gradient in section of steep downhill gradients between Bridge House and Browney Signal Boxes. However, whilst

144-416: The fireman of the express escaped. The crash caused the deaths of ten people on the passenger train, and additionally, one soldier died after the event from alcoholic poisoning. The soldier had been drafted in from the nearby Brancepeth Army Camp , and was helping with the rescue effort. He had been drinking the spirits carried in one of the broken goods wagons. The then home secretary, James Chuter Ede ,

160-462: The fireman was leaving the train to talk with the signaller about why they were halted, they saw the lights of the broken free wagons approaching at speed, and the driver did not have time to start his engine to get out of the way. The runaway wagons collided with the stationary front wagons and caused wreckage to be strewn across both running lines (up and down), which was then hit by an overnight express train from London King's Cross to Newcastle, which

176-418: The next box south (Browney) about the train being divided. The front portion of the train (that under power) was stopped at Browney Signal Box, which was at milepost 63 - 3 miles (5 km) south of Durham, and 19 miles (31 km) north of Darlington . The notification of train divided was received at Browney Signal Box at 5:30 am, just after the signalman at Browney had indicated Line Clear for

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192-680: The owners of the now-closed colliery. The library comprised over 1000 books, and the reading room was supplied with popular newspapers. This was at a time when popular culture emphasised the benefits of literacy, via the Worker's Educational Movement. This movement supplemented a relentless drive for self-improvement, involving literacy connected with the Book of Common Prayer, and standard forms of Christian worship. 54°44′52″N 1°37′06″W  /  54.74778°N 1.61833°W  / 54.74778; -1.61833 This County Durham location article

208-465: The traditional location of the brawn's death. Brancepeth Castle was until 1570 the fortress of the Neville Earls of Westmorland . The castle was extensively modified and rebuilt in the 19th century by Viscount Boyne (later Baron Brancepeth). It was later a military hospital. St Brandon's Church was famed for its exceptional 17th-century woodwork, until it was destroyed in a major fire in 1998;

224-622: The wreckage would not foul his signalling system. The son of one of the victims of the crash, arranged a remembrance service at Durham Cathedral in January 2016, 70 years after the event. Brancepeth Brancepeth is a village and civil parish in County Durham , in England. It is situated about 8 km (5 mi) from Durham on the A690 road between Durham and Weardale . The population of

240-410: Was estimated to have been travelling at 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). The first three coaches of the passenger train were destroyed and the crash was said to have been heard 2 miles (3.2 km) away. The driver of the express stated that the signals were clear, and the first he knew of any problem was when his engine started "screeching". Then it pitched violently onto its side. Both the driver and

256-536: Was on the wrecked express, but he was uninjured and managed to go to his constituency in South Shields for work that same day. The line was cleared of wreckage and had a normal service by 7 January 1946, and an inquest was opened on 9 January at Durham, where it was called the Ferryhill Crash . Hall comments that the signalman at Browney should have made the train proceed further south towards Croxdale , which

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