On this day 35 years ago: train derails into the River Towy

The morning of October 19, 1987, marked a dark day in the history of the area after the four people were killed while on a passenger train crossing the bridge over the River Towy at Glanrhyd.

There had been hours of heavy rain prior to the 7.15am crossing of the bridge by the Central Wales railway’s 5.27am Swansea to Shrewsbury train, which had led to the valley being flooded and the bridge had collapsed during the night or early morning.

The two-carriage train was carrying 10 people including passengers and train crew and the train stopped with the second carriage remaining on the part of the bridge that was still above water, however, unfortunately, the front carriage of the train ended up in the flooded river.

Three passengers and three members of the train crew were able to escape but unfortunately three passengers and the driver were killed, with a 1990 report stating they died from drowning.

The victims were named as Mr and Mrs W.B. Evans, Simon Penny and the driver Mr J M Churchill.

In the 1990 report, it was stated that after leaving Llanelli on its journey, the train had to go in reverse and so the initial leading carriage – which had been leading in Swansea was now the rear carriage on departure from Llanelli. When mentioning the leading or rear carriage, this will be referenced to the carriages as they were on departure from Llanelli.

It was found that there were initial reports of damage and flooding on the bridge the previous day.

The report states that a Mr A Scott was working as the on-call operating manager on Sunday, October 18 and at around 10pm he received a call from the signalman at Pantyffynon who told him that the driver of a ‘light locomotive’ on its way back from engineering works near Llandridnod Wells had reported flooding on the track and some ballast being washed away.

He checked the scene out himself and decided he would accompany the 5.27am train to inspect the track further, but due to further flooding in the Carmarthen area, he asked the second on-call manager Mr Sharpe to go in his place.

Llandridnod Wells’ permanent way officer Ray Davies would also go as one of his staff was unable to proceed further to inspect due to the flooding.

A Mr J C Andrews was the on-call engineer on the weekend and said that while he had been told about flooding near Fishguard, he had not been made aware of any on the Central Wales line.

Mr E J Rossiter was the driver of the light locomotive that reported the flooding to the Pantyffynon signalman.

He said his journey from Craven Arms was issue-free until he reached Llandovery and noticed that between Llandovery and Llanwrda there was some flooding on the railway but it didn’t reach past the rails.

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He said he stopped the train briefly on the Glanrhyd bridge at around 9.15pm to have a look at the water and thought the water was around three feet below the bridge.

As he continued towards Llandeilo, he noticed some flooding around the 21-mile post and that some of the stone ballast had been displaced from beneath the track. He continued his journey at a slow speed as he was unsure what to expect.

The following morning, it was confirmed that if the flooding was too bad, the train would be returned to Llandeilo. The train was initially held at Pantyffynon on the request of Mr Sharpe so that he could arrive.

At 7.05am, the train driver was given the signal to proceed from Llandeilo to Llandovery to examine the line.

At 7.50am, the control office told Mr Bowen that the train was stopped at Glanrhyd Bridge and 10 minutes later, that it had been derailed.

A nearby farmer had seen part of the incident. Carwyn Davies and his father had got up to milk the cows at 6.15am as usual but decided to wait until it was lighter to investigate why one of the cows was bellowing because the floodwater was up to the farmhouse. The farm was located alongside the river and railway line.

Around 7am, he made his way out and the water was up to his waist and flowing strongly and he was unable to get more than 400 yards away from the bridge which was in the same field.

He looked towards the bridge, which was usually able to be seen clearly but said it “had gone.” He said that there was a piece of the bridge on each side but then a ‘v’ shape in the middle.

He went to turn back to make a call about the bridge but heard a train approaching and hurried back to his house.

On the train crashing into the river, he said: “the first carriage appeared to take off when it reached the collapsed part of the bridge and landed on the other side. It went out of sight into the water and then came back up and floated.”

The farmer then returned to his house to call the police. He said that the train had been travelling slower than usual but was faster than walking pace and that by the time the police arrived some 20 minutes later, the carriage had gone under water.

One passenger, Mr R B Borgiani, was on the front coach with five or six other passengers. He said he heard a very loud noise and the train went down.

He explained how a door opened to the right and a woman fell down in front of him and there was a lot of water going into the carriage and could see the river around halfway up the windows.

He tried to climb out of the coach but was unable to and was told to go into the back carriage by Mr Sharpe.

Mr K W Bailey, another passenger, said: “there was this terrific bang, like a crack,” and a blue flash and the lights went out. He was able to get towards the back of the coach and said it was like being on rapids and there was an awful noise.

A Mrs Angus was also in the front carriage and she said that she recalled seeing three of the victims moving around in the first carriage as she was heading to the second one, but could not recall seeing Mr Penny. She believed that those who were behind her would have escaped as well.

The train guard Mr Anderson and Mr Sharpe assisted in getting the front carriage passengers into the back carriage and he recalled that the four victims were calm and as he was approaching the driver, he told them to catch hold of the luggage racks.

An inquest into the four deaths came with a conclusion of ‘unlawful killing,’ however, no prosecutions were brought.

The report found that the decision to use the train to examine the track was made on the basis that they knew the areas of flooding and that while it is unacceptable to put passengers or staff at risk, the train staff knew the conditions and the inspector carrying out the inquiry believed that if a locomotive was used, it too would have plunged into the river.

He also believed that ‘regulation 9’ should have been used as the condition of the bridge was causing concern. He denied a theory that the train was deliberately used, stating that no one who made the decision knew just how serious or even anticipated that there would be any serious damage to the bridge.

It also found that the cause of the bridge collapse was the failure of one of the bridge’s piers, which was undermined by the scouring action of the river.

It was found that the bridge had to be completely demolished as it was beyond repair and a replacement bus service was used between Llandovery and Llandeilo stations until a new bridge was reopened on October 30, 1988.