11 December 2003

Horror Train Crash Relived by Daughter

LMS "Black Five" number 44871 blows off steam at Irwell Vale with the 10:20 service from Heywood - 27 Jun 2010 Photographer unknown.

Irwell Vale - The daughter of a farmer who died in a horrific train crash on the East Lancashire Railway has spoken of her terror in the moments leading up to the tragedy.
 
Thomas Holt was driving across the Irwell Vale crossing in May when his Land Rover was struck by a steam train.
 
The 63-year-old died at the scene. His daughter Diane (19), a front-seat passenger, miraculously escaped with minor injuries.
 
Diane told an inquest in Burnley last Thursday that she had lived with what happened every day since and said:  "I still haven't been able to sum it up myself, it was just an accident."
 
She said her father paused at the crossing, but she didn't see the train until she heard him swear as they were going across the tracks.
 
She screamed at him to put his foot down but the Land Rover was hit just before it reached the other side. The vehicle was pushed on to its roof and into a stone wall.
 
Pathologist Dr. Walid Salman said Mr. Holt died of severe chest injuries.
 
Police accident investigators said local residents were "lackadaisical" about closing the gates at the unmanned crossing and often they were often left open.
 
Diane said that on that day the gates were open when they crossed first time. And they didn't close them because they were coming back across almost immediately.
 
She said:  "We have always shut the gate behind us before."
 
Richard Law, director of operations and safety at ELR, said:  "We have a responsibility to provide the gates and warning signs and ensure road users have a visual or audible warning of an approaching train."
 
He said some of the company's volunteer staff shut the gates when they were left open, but it was not their responsibility to do so.
 
Train driver Colin Angles said he sounded the whistle and was slowing down from 20 mph as he approached the Irwell Vale halt, which is a compulsory stop. His fireman had checked the crossing was clear.
 
He said the first time he saw the Land Rover, it was nearly across the track. He slammed on the brakes but could not stop in time.
 
The steam locomotive was travelling tender-first (backwards) from Rawtenstall towards Ramsbottom, which is normal practice because there is no turning facility at Rawtenstall. It was pulling three carriages and about 20 passengers. No one on the train was hurt.
 
Concern had been expressed that Mr. Holt might not have been expecting a train to be running on a weekday, because the ELR had only just moved to its summer timetable. But Mr. Holt's widow, Patricia, said he had told her just weeks before that trains can use the line at any time. She described her husband a cautious man and said:  "I find it very hard to understand."
 
Recording a verdict of accidental death East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor said:  "Here we have a cautious man with his daughter with him driving a very short distance, going slowly, going about his everyday duties. Unfortunately it is abundantly clear we will never know the answer to how this happened."
 
"We can't know what he was thinking when he crossed that level crossing and I am not here to apportion blame."
 
Mr. Holt's death is the first fatal accident to have happened on the East Lancashire Railway since it was reopened by the volunteers more than a decade ago.
 
Rebecca Smith.