Service remembers victims of rail crash a century ago

IT WAS a foul night, 100 years ago this Christmas Eve, when a signalman at Hawes Junction waved through a Glasgow-bound express train on the Settle to Carlisle Railway.

It raced along the track before colliding with two light locomotives in a horrific crash which claimed the lives of 12 people and sparked a radical overhaul of safety measures on train lines across Britain.

Yesterday, at St Margaret's Church, Hawes, a service of commemoration was held to honour the people who died in the crash and was attended by the great-grandson of Alfred Sutton, the signalman who was working on that fateful night.

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The Rev Canon Bill Greetham, who led the service, said: "It was a very emotional day and a fitting way to remember the people who died in this dreadful crash. It was a hugely significant in terms of its outcomes for railway safety and a tragedy which shocked the whole of the country."

The service was arranged by the Friends of the Settle Carlisle Railway, who prior to yesterday had raised 500 to renovate a memorial dedicated to the people who died in the crash which is in the churchyard outside.

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