Holton Heath Train Crash, Poole 1989 & Rail Crane

From the Archives...
On 20th April 1989, a Class 33/1 locomotive No 33107 running light engine ran into the rear of a freight train at Holton Heath Sidings, Poole, Dorset. The Class 33 driver was killed.
This is the story of the engineering recovery operation that lasted the rest of the day and all through the night. The Eastleigh Rail Crane was dispatched and is seen in operation in this video. The film begins with the BBC South Today news report.
The HSE report on the accident can be found here:
www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docu...

[@petemullen842]

I think that work gang are very disrespectful laughing joking and swearing and eating no respect for that driver, yes we all have to eat but they could have eaten somewhere else out of view of the camera absolute no respect👎

[@richardperry5538]

A hard decision.....stay with it or jump, at that speed I'd have jumped, hopefully as a driver I'll never have to decide but it's something I ofter think about, especially when passenger often block our cab access into the train carriage with suitcases which could end up trapping us in the cab.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Nowadays it would be a month before the line was reopened and rescuers would have to fight through the Buddleia/overgrown lineside to get at the trains.

[@mikehitchen3153]

I remember this was made more tragic by the fact the light engine had been sent to move a wagon that had previous been placed slightly out of position under an overhead crane that was fixed ie only able to lift and could not move horizontally, so a loco was sent to be move it into the correct position.

[@truthministry.]

Looking at that damage, I reckon the driver may have survived the crash if not jumping out of the door.

[@pauljohnson4590]

The guard had retired by the time the report into the accident had been finalised - if he had been still in service, they would have recommended retraining. It seems a number of things had an impact. Sadly, the poor driver who died did absolutely nothing wrong - travelling under clear signals he spotted the rear of the other train. It was likely he jumped from either the front or rear cab, or on the steps - they were not able to establish which. The guard was primarily to blame, plus the signalman and the train driver. A collection of little errors that together caused the collision.

[@chriswaring5565]

WHY IS IT WHEN THERES A RAIL DISASTER THEY ALWAYS SAY RAIL TRAVEL IS ALWAYS THE SAFEST FORM OF TRAVEL

[@captainboing]

I'd have dumped the air and ran back through the engine compartment... very few people would survive a fall at 50mph. In the event, sadly it sounds like it was un-necessary - from the report: "Although the locomotive was extensively damaged and the leading bogie derailed, the integrity of the driver's cab remained intact."

[@garthcox4]

What a shame. And given the cab wasnt totally crushed he might have had more of a chance if he had stayed on the train. He had no way of knowing that especially in the heat of the moment.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

l was a Guard at Bournemouth in the 90s and remember the old timers talking about this in the mess room on several occassions !! Apparently there was a mis-understanding between the Guard and the signal man . The Guard was either an a German ex pow who stayed in England after WW2 or a Polish refugee or serviceman from WW2 .Either way his English wasn't that brilliant !! He spoke to the signal man on the phone and said something like they had left Holton Heath sidings but had problems wlth the brakes or the loco and were stuck blocking the up main line! Apparently the signalman mis understood and thought he said they were still stuck in the sidings with brake problems and hadn't departed yet! So he let the light engine from Wareham enter the section anyway even though he wasn't sure!

[@encybobis1256]

The front of the class 33 is damaged

[@OlafProt]

Interesting film. But what's all this about 'no respect' below? Its not like the poor driver has just been left there, and this isn't the BBC filming, this is just some private person filming. Yes its the scene of a disaster, but they're working hard to get the line cleared. And the workers gotta eat!

[@Horror_N_M3tal]

I remember when this happend. And it put me off traveling by train for 8 years.

[@roncheetham673]

well as long as the crews can cuss , at 3. ;49 and get their fish and chips , what else matters

[@jamiesmithgoingloco]

I live Poole, never even new this happened.

[@burntpeppers7414]

🥱🤣😎🥳

[@Roo63]

Cheers.

[@MrBooojangles]

Wow, it was great that you could add all that lineside footage after the news article. I don't remember this crash off hand, but your video showed up after I replied to a comment on one of my videos, from the email I got from You Tube and it looked really interesting and was. The random things YT brings up for us eh! I have to agree as well. This is the most footage of a British Rail recovery crane in action and I am a big fan of them and have a Hornby one too.

[@alfwedarf7764]

I know this is off topic but the news reader at the beginning sounds pissed up.

[@grahampearson5670]

South Today with Bruce Parker and Sally Taylor.