The Train that almost Destroyed a Town

The Train that almost Destroyed a Town - Soham Rail Disaster

Рет қаралды 17,238

Күн бұрын

In today's video, we take a look at the time a literal truck full of ammunition nearly destroyed an entire English town in 1944
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This video falls under the fair use act of 1976.
This video is available to use under the appropriate Creative Commons Licence.
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Picture & Information References:
www.railwaysar...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.sohamgramma...
www.bbc.co.uk/...
capturingcambr...
Soham Museaum
The Cambridgeshire Collection
Ben Brooksbank
undyingmemory....
RuthAS
Auckland Museum
Bob Jones
OceanAtoll

Пікірлер: 91

@TrainFactGuy Ай бұрын

Fun fact: My PC crashed twice making this video. Always check your files folks

@romycarldelacruz1980 Ай бұрын

Damm looks like the train tried to destroy your pc too

@iainwalker8701 Ай бұрын

Hope you didn't lose too much if the edit. Another awesome video to add to the collection. Thanks

@generalsquirrel9548 Ай бұрын

Does your pc have a 13th or 14th gen intel processor?

@oggaBugga Ай бұрын

Go Linux...Ubuntu is easy to use. Also easy to build a Samba server to store all your files.

@jed-henrywitkowski6470 Ай бұрын

You should do a parody video about that! Thank you for seeing the video to completion, despite, the derailment.

@vickielawless Ай бұрын

In 1981 both men had a class 47 named after them- 47577 Ben Gimbert GC; and 47579 James Nightall GC. The latter is now preserved @ Mid Hants Railway. They were indeed true heroes. Incredibly, their WD 2-8-0 loco was rebuilt, and survived until the late '60s as Longmoor Military Railway no.400, "Guy Williams".

@NewController01 Ай бұрын

also to mention about “James Nightall GC”, according to the page on the Mid Hants Website, on 1st August 1985, it worked the Royal Train, taking Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip to Great Yarmouth.

@vickielawless Ай бұрын

I didn't know that! Not surprising though, as the 2 cl.47s were the prides of Stratford depot..

@mechamax7919 Ай бұрын

what happened to 47577?

@NewController01 Ай бұрын

@@mechamax7919 the class 47? not sure

@vickielawless Ай бұрын

I believe it was renumbered 47847 later on; not sure if it survives..

@mlp-hot-rod5824 Ай бұрын

And to think the engine was repaired and remained in service until 1967.

@TheSudrianTerrier653 Ай бұрын

Certainly remarkable, an engine blown up, managed to be rebuilt and returned to service, Serving right until the end of steam

@BrokenIET Ай бұрын

@@TheSudrianTerrier653Steam at Longmoor where it worked survived until its closure in late 1969, so it didn’t quite make it unfortunately. It was scrapped after a fusible plug failure if you were curious.

@Dat-Mudkip Ай бұрын

This is one of those stories that I feel flys under the radar, despite the sheer heroism involved.

@NewController01 Ай бұрын

It is actually mentioned in the book series "Trains in Trouble" vol 2

@davefrench3608 Ай бұрын

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and uniforms. To think how many lives those two saves. RIP

@lostgamer1389 Ай бұрын

Well this is great way to start 4:00 am in the morning!

@lukechristmas3951 Ай бұрын

I remember Wildnorwester using this as a basis for one of his stories, "Iron Hero." It's great to finally see it in a short video covering the events and more. I learned a few new things about that incident today thanks to this video. I was surprised to learn that with the amount of buildings that were damaged or destroyed, there were only two human deaths. Nothing short of a miracle. And to know that the munitions were being carried in open wagons, wild.

@SNER333 Ай бұрын

Shout out to Sodor the Early Years' episode "Iron Hero" which retold this story. Nice to hear this story in actual historical context.

@Durgon-Man Ай бұрын

I remember that episode. RIP Eagle :(

@ConnorHavelka Ай бұрын

I KNEW I recognized this plot from somewhere!

@ChimpManZ1264 Ай бұрын

@@Durgon-ManWinston was the one who perished.

@ayayaybamba3445 Ай бұрын

what's still bizzare to me is that someone thought it was a good idea to carry live munitions in open-topped hopper cars behind a steam locomotive. Box cars exist for a reason.

@cedarcam Ай бұрын

It would be hard to load/unload a van (box car) the open wagons would be loaded using a crane.

@Racist_Railfan_Productions Ай бұрын

It's interesting how they decided to take it slow and careful when moving out the burning car. I feel like most people, when put in that situation, would just book it at full throttle as soon as they uncoupled to get as far away as possible, but idk, I've never handled a train full of explosives before.

@MrJoeyWheeler Ай бұрын

Moving too quickly could have knocked them about and caused the explosion to happen sooner. Rail travel is not smooth, after all.

@willhemmings Ай бұрын

This is one of the most inspirational stories in Britain's railway history. Another is John Axon, driver of a freight train in which a broken steam pipe caused a locomotive's brakes to fail at Chapel en le Frith in 1957. Axon's instruction to pin wagon brakes saved the fireman's life, but Axon (posthumously awarded the GC), died attempting to stop the train as the cab filled with scalding steam. An unsung hero was the rear cab driver of a low loader taking a transformer over a level crossing at Hixon in Staffordshire. When the barriers descended and a passenger train approached the driver accelerated to push the transformer clear, placing himself in the path of the train, but there was no time to avoid the collision and eleven people died

@michael32A Ай бұрын

Met a BR-era Fireman from March sometime in the mid-00s (exhibiting a March inspired OO layout at a Model Railway event, at Bressingham) who'd worked with the Driver in this incident, Mr Gimbert. He said Mr Gimbert kept driving for the rest of his career, but was kept on light duties only, such as shunting.

@lofthouse23 Ай бұрын

Congratulations on getting your new railway station, Soham. It's been a long time coming but you have it now. Use it wisely.

@Spud607 Ай бұрын

Respect to these gentlemen 🫡🫡

@Jetthehawk1994 Ай бұрын

WIldnorWester used this as inspiration for one of his stories.

@westinbridges7321 Ай бұрын

Press F to pay respects to James Nightall, Signalman Bridges (I wonder if that man is related to my family), and that one horse.

@C.A.A93 Ай бұрын

Another friday, another lovely video to come home to. Cheers

@DennisLora2001 Ай бұрын

Fantastic work Train of thought 1:11

@multifan75 Ай бұрын

Had the crew not uncoupled the engine and the lead car from the train, the situation could’ve been much worse. They were true heroes saving Soham from disaster.

@terryaltherr2481 Ай бұрын

I remember learning about this since Wildnorwester modeled this incident for "Iron Hero" in his Sodor The Early Years series.

@BrokenIET Ай бұрын

The most surprising thing to me is that the engine survived to work at the Longmoor Military Railway

@marie.hawley Ай бұрын

I was wondering if you could make a video about the steam engines of the Mount Washington cog rail way?

@Scagguy4014 Ай бұрын

What an amazing story

@carltonleboss Ай бұрын

What a fascinating story.

@ethan4life732 Ай бұрын

Thank you for your sacrifice, Horse in open field.

@6allmotivepowers363 Ай бұрын

Been waiting for this one for a long time - thanks!

@hoxfoxyt Ай бұрын

that needs to become a movie

@Tom-Lahaye Ай бұрын

That's why the station looks so new when looking it up on street view, it took 80 years to construct a new one 😆, but joke aside, these men were heroes for not running away but having limited the size of the explosion with their actions.

@MattTCfarm Ай бұрын

This is an honour to the two men who gave their lives to protect others.

@MichaelCampin Ай бұрын

My paternal grandfather was a shunter in Stratford Marshalling Yard during WWII, unfortunately he was killed by a German Bombing Raid in early WWII

@Hybris51129 Ай бұрын

The part I find strange is even knowing that the car was on fire and that they had to get clear of the station they were apparently moving slowly. On one hand I can understand that shocking the load may set off the bombs but I would still think that the raging fire would take precedent and thus require maximum speed to clear the station and town.

@Lucius_Chiaraviglio Ай бұрын

Lucky that the shrapnel that peppered the other ammunition wagons didn't ignite those wagons or directly detonate their ammunition.

@Monothefox Ай бұрын

Reminds me of the Krylbo blast of '43.

@Veeebeee69 Ай бұрын

What happened to Gimbert afterwards? Did he die of his injuries or continue working?

@G-Forces Ай бұрын

As soon as you said munitions train I knew this was going to be a sad story...

@mads2804 Ай бұрын

Do we know if they wanted to bail from the train after setting it to acelerate out into the open country and simply had no time to bail before the munitions blew up. Or were they willing to drive it out into the open countryside and then decouple it and move away with the locomotive? I know it 's likely the answer to this question is lost to history, and we should be thankfull for people like them who show bravery and cool-headedness in a time of crisis

@cedarcam Ай бұрын

For sure they would not bail the locomotive, they would drive it out into the open. I like to think they would of tried to save the locomotive from destruction as well but would probably find it impossible to get to the coupling due to the fire, whatever their intensions they certainly put saving the town and railway before their lives and would of known how little time there would be to get away from the wagon once in the open country.

@ChrizKeyz Ай бұрын

Press F to pay respects to Gimbert, Nightall and the Horse

@primrosevale1995 Ай бұрын

Sounds like a perfect recipe for a Thomas character with PTSD.

@Dafr00tl00p Ай бұрын

Morning folks🤗

@Ludi_Chris Ай бұрын

War, war never changes

@brenlc1412 Ай бұрын

Henry the Freight Engine became Henry the Bomb Train.

@1_railfan Ай бұрын

Not all heroes wear capes.

@KCDash4400cw Ай бұрын

I can think of another train that nearly destroyed an entire town in 2013.

@garryferrington811 Ай бұрын

Those were brave, selfless men. Who today would have done what they did?

@11s_9 Ай бұрын

How do you be at home and drive a train at the same time how does that make any sense

@sebforce1165 Ай бұрын

"At home" as in, still in the home country and not on the frontlines or right at where the fighting is, on the homefront more or less. Like how the US is described as the "Home of the Brave, Land of the Free" or the song "I Still Call Australia Home." Not quite literal, and I think it's a play on words in this video intro's case.

@DatOneDuck02 Ай бұрын

being at home was a term in the war for being in england

@11s_9 Ай бұрын

@@sebforce1165 ok thanks

@ManOfUnknownWorth Ай бұрын

I'm sure many have noted the similarity of this story to Casey Jones's.

@TheGermanEngine Ай бұрын

You know someone did something great if they got a BR locomotive named after them.

@jimtaylor294 Ай бұрын

22,000lbs of explosives... no wonder the truck was disintegrated 😅

@yeoldeseawitch Ай бұрын

I have a feeling this will get alot of views

@BralonGrimes-xs2gz Ай бұрын

If this was that place in the Thomas universe I think my wagons are on fired said the engine everything blows up the end

@voltsiano116 Ай бұрын

Legendary o7

@eggballo4490 Ай бұрын

Does anyone know the number of that WD engine?

@cedarcam Ай бұрын

WD Austerity locomotive number 7337. She was repaired and returned to work

@eggballo4490 Ай бұрын

@@cedarcam Thanks. I'm assuming she was scrapped in the 1960s.

@cedarcam Ай бұрын

@@eggballo4490 I have a book with the story of this in and remembered she was repaired. Just looked up the number on Google and found she was scrapped in 1967 after a transfer to Longmore Military railway where a fusible plug failed.