On this day – June 9th

Charles Dickens in rail crash

The Staplehurst rail crash was a derailment at Staplehurst, Kent on 9 June 1865 at 3:13 pm. The South Eastern Railway Folkestone to London boat train derailed while crossing a viaduct where a length of track had been removed during engineering works. The train's engineer spotted the problem at the last minute, but it was too late. Momentum carried the engine and the first part of the train across the breach. However the coaches in the centre and the rear of the train fell into the river bed below. All but one of the first-class coaches went into the ravine. That was the coach that carried Dickens, Ellen Ternan and Mrs. Ternan and they all survived the derailment.

Others weren't as lucky – ten people were killed and about fifty were injured. Dickens helped to rescue and tend to the victims, some of whom died while he was with them.

In the Board of Trade report it was found that a man had been placed with a red flag 554 yards away but the regulations required him to be 1,000 yards away and the train had insufficient time to stop.

The experience affected Dickens greatly; he lost his voice for two weeks and afterwards was nervous when travelling by train, using alternative means when available.

Dickens died five years to the day after the accident – his son said that he had never fully recovered.

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