Details of the Accident
| Place | Primrose Hill Tunnel |
| Date | 20th May 1937, p.m. |
| Railway Company | London Midland & Scottish Railway |
| No. of Fatalities | 2 |
| Cause of Accident | Boiler blowback |
| Description | On the 1.15 p.m. Liverpool-Euston express, a collapsed smokebox deflector plate in the Princess class engine caused a blowback that turned the footplate into a furnace. The incident occurred as the crew were nearing the end of their journey at Primrose Hill tunnel on the approach to Euston. Driver and fireman stayed at their controls and brought the train safely to a stand outside the tunnel. Unfortunately the crewmen were so extensively burnt that they both died in hospital. |
Sources/Further Reading
- Derail, Nicholas Faith (1998)
- Memorial plaque on platform 1 at Liverpool Lime Street (moved from Edge Hill 1986)
- Shed Side on Merseyside: The Last Days of Steam, Kenn Pearce (2011)
- Steam World magazine, June 1996 (Letter and photo of memorial)
List of Fatalities
The 2 fatalities are listed in the table below together with brief notes of any other information found so far.
The last column shows the General Register Office (England and Wales) or Statutory Register (Scotland) reference where this has been identified.
| Surname | First Names | Age | Occupation | Residence | Notes | GRO/SR Reference | |||||||
| BALL | Joseph | 60 | Train driver | , | Based Edge Hill, Liverpool. Died of injuries. | 1937/Jun Willesden 3a 370 | |||||||
| HIGGINS | Cormack | 37 | Train fireman | , | Based Edge Hill, Liverpool. Died of injuries. | 1937/Jun Willesden 3a 370 |