On This Day in 1927, Hull Paragon Train Crash

On today’s date, 14 February, the calendar marks the anniversary of the Hull Paragon rail accident of 1927, when two passenger trains collided head-on on the approaches to Hull Paragon station. The incoming 08:22 service from Withernsea to Hull was nearing the terminal when it came into conflict with the 09:05 departure from Hull to Scarborough, and the resulting crash left a lasting scar on the city’s railway history.

The collision occurred at about 09:10. Twelve passengers were killed and 24 were seriously injured, a toll that underlined how unforgiving a mistake could be even in a busy station area designed to handle frequent movements safely and in quick succession.

At the time, the station approaches were equipped with interlocking, a system intended to make it impossible for signals to be cleared unless the route ahead was proved safe. Contemporary commentary later noted how comprehensively the area had been fitted with safety devices, yet the accident still happened.

One key weakness was that there were no track circuits protecting the layout at Hull in February 1927. Track circuits, developed earlier and already in use on parts of the British railway network by the early 20th century, provided a way to detect whether a section of line was occupied; without them, the protection of the layout relied more heavily on correct actions inside the signal box.

Three signalmen were present in the signal box, and the official enquiry found that one of them pulled the wrong lever: he intended to set the points for the incoming Withernsea train but instead set the points ahead of the Scarborough train. The points were normally locked against movement while the signal ahead of the Scarborough train was clear, and also by the presence of wheels on a locking bar immediately to the rear of the points.

The second failure came when another signalman set the signals behind the Scarborough train back to danger while the train was still passing the signal and before it had reached the locking bar, contrary to the rules. That action released the locking on the points for about 1.9 seconds before the Scarborough train reached the locking bar, allowing the points to be changed by the wrongly pulled lever, and the combination of these two failings led directly to the head-on collision.