Things that would have been worth seeing...

[Stuart Johnson]

From the report on an accident at Hornsey No. 1 in 1888:

The 5.25 p.m. goods train, consisting of engine and tender, 35 loaded waggons, and a brake-van, from King's Cross goods yard for York, instead of stopping at the home-signal which permits trains to pass from the down goods line (on which the train was running) to the down slow line, passed this signal at considerable speed, ran into the blind siding, in which the goods line terminates, carried away the buffer-stops at its end, and then crashed into Hornsey No. 1 cabin, which was about 20 ft. north of the buffer-stops, the engine stopping with its front buffer-beam projecting about 20 ft. to the north of the north end of this cabin...

The buffer-stops (nearly new ones) were destroyed. The signal-cabin (also nearly new) had its north and south ends destroyed, the roof remaining supported by the side walls. The lever frame was carried away on the top of the boiler of the engine.

and as the signalman describes it:

I seized a red flag, went on to the landing outside, the cabin and waved it violently towards the train, at which time the engine would bo about 400 yards off. Almost directly after this 1 saw steam shut off, and the brakes seemed to be applied, but the speed still appeared to be high , and when the engine was passing the home-signal at a speed of about 15 miles an hour, I knew it could not stop. I remained on the landing waving the flag till the engine was close to the buffer-stops, when I slid down the hand-rail and ran to the west side of the goods line, just in time to escape the engine, which cleared away the buffer-slops, ran into the cabin, and came out on the other side, the footplate remaining inside the cabin, and the lever frame being carried away.

Sadly the driver was killed, but the images conjured up by those passages, of the signalman sliding down the handrails of his steps, and the box still standing, but with an engine right through it, are truly remarkable.

[Fast Line Floyd]

From the report on an accident at Hornsey No. 1 in 1888:

The 5.25 p.m. goods train, consisting of engine and tender, 35 loaded waggons, and a brake-van, from King's Cross goods yard for York, instead of stopping at the home-signal which permits trains to pass from the down goods line (on which the train was running) to the down slow line, passed this signal at considerable speed, ran into the blind siding, in which the goods line terminates, carried away the buffer-stops at its end, and then crashed into Hornsey No. 1 cabin, which was about 20 ft. north of the buffer-stops, the engine stopping with its front buffer-beam projecting about 20 ft. to the north of the north end of this cabin...

The buffer-stops (nearly new ones) were destroyed. The signal-cabin (also nearly new) had its north and south ends destroyed, the roof remaining supported by the side walls. The lever frame was carried away on the top of the boiler of the engine.

and as the signalman describes it:

I seized a red flag, went on to the landing outside, the cabin and waved it violently towards the train, at which time the engine would bo about 400 yards off. Almost directly after this 1 saw steam shut off, and the brakes seemed to be applied, but the speed still appeared to be high , and when the engine was passing the home-signal at a speed of about 15 miles an hour, I knew it could not stop. I remained on the landing waving the flag till the engine was close to the buffer-stops, when I slid down the hand-rail and ran to the west side of the goods line, just in time to escape the engine, which cleared away the buffer-slops, ran into the cabin, and came out on the other side, the footplate remaining inside the cabin, and the lever frame being carried away.

Sadly the driver was killed, but the images conjured up by those passages, of the signalman sliding down the handrails of his steps, and the box still standing, but with an engine right through it, are truly remarkable.

There's never anybody around with a camera when you need one!!

[davidwoodcock]

Given that it was in 1888, though, someone is likely to have dragged their heavy photographic apparatus to a position where the scene could be photographed. The 1880s were the decade in which events started to be photographed, dispensing chemists featuring large among the early proponents.

[Ashley Hill]

Would make a good Buster Keaton film.

[JRB]

Mr.Keaton would have happily played the signalman, doing his own stunts.

[Mike Hodgson]

I suppose it must have looked a little like those American "Camelback" locos.
Or perhaps that's where they got the idea!

Reminds me of the description I once heard of the Citroen 2CV - invented when a de Dion Bouton crashed into a corrugated iron chicken shed and kept on going.