East Coast Joint Stock carriage panel

Carriage panel, East Coast Joint Stock, bearing ECJS Scottish coat-of-arms, taken from carriage involved in disaster of the Scottish Express at Grantham, September 19th 1906.

On 19 September 1906 a sleeping car and mail train service from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh crashed at Grantham, resulting in the deaths of 14 people.

The train was due to stop at Grantham at 11pm, where mail would have been loaded. The signal at Grantham South was at ‘caution’ and the north box was at ‘danger’ to protect a goods train which was crossing the Nottingham line junction. Despite this, the Edinburgh-bound service came towards the station at 40 miles per hour, the locomotive managing to ride the curve but its long tender derailing, sending carriages crashing down the embankment.

Within moments fire had broken out, started by the firebox and encouraged by escaping gas. Much speculation on the cause of the accident followed, with suggestions that the driver had been drunk, asleep, or had lost his mind. The official report stated that it was possible that the driver had been taken suddenly ill, while acknowledging that the true cause may never be known.