THE MOORGATE TRAIN DISASTER
Death Under London
Death Under London
Please note: The Photographs, Illustrations and Diagrams shown in the section have been downloaded and collected from various publications.
At the end of Platform 9 was a sand buffer.
Beyond the buffer was a short tunnel, just over a carriage in length, before a solid rock wall.
Driver Leslie Newson.
It took 4 days to recover his body from the wreckage.
On Friday 28th February 1975, London Underground experienced it's worst ever train accident. At 8:46am the Drayton Park to Moorgate shuttle service sped at full speed through Moorgate's Platform 9 into a dead end tunnel. Forty Three people died as a result of the accident.
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I was a passenger in the 6th and last carriage of the train. Because it was a motorised carriage I was called to give evidence at the official enquiry.
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There was no official cause of the crash.
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I was in a side seat at the front end of the 6th and last carriage. The Guard's panel was next to me.
After the train left Old Street station, the guard went to the other end of the carriage and entered what was the Driver's compartment for the return journey.
The official report indicated he went to the compartment to retrieve a newspaper.
Maybe! But what was the real reason for entering that compartment?
Why, on this service, did most if not all guards undertake similar journeys to that compartment between Old Street and Moorgate? To retrieve a newspaper?
I think not.
Guard Robert Harris
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The train was at full speed when it hit the sand buffer at the end of platform 9.
After the guard returned to his control panel and opened the train doors for the last three carriages, we stepped onto the platform only to be greeted by a 'sand-storm' created from the sand buffer being impacted, the sound of screams, and an official directing us up the stair exit near the centre of the platform, rather than the escallators at the front end of the platform.
Two and a bit carriages were jammed into the 'dead end' tunnel.
One fortunate fact.
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In the Official Report, one passenger noted that there appeared to be less passengers than normal on the train.
I agree, even though I was in the least populated carriage. Most people travelled in the front carriages, because the escalator exit at Moorgate is adjacent to where the first carriage normally stops.
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From my observations most travellers joined the train at 'Highbury and Islington' where they transferred from the Victoris line trains and walked through an archway to join the train from Drayton Park.
Usually three Victoria Line trains arrived compared to one train to Moorgate. That morning there were only two Victoria Line trains before the Moorgate service departed.
I know it is only a rough estimate, but potentially there were a quarter to a third less passengers than usual on that fateful service.