Published in November 2017, this book from publisher Pen & Sword describes the inquiry into the Hixon disaster against a background of the introduction of Automatic Half-Barrier level-crossings into Britain, and how their botched introduction led to several fatal accidents.
Written by Richard Westwood, the hardback book measures around 24.77 cm x 16.51 cm, has 120 pages, and 34 colour and black and white illustrations. It has a published price of £19.99 although Pen & Sword currently has it on offer at £18.75, and at the time of writing it can be obtained from Amazon for £17.41.
Although titled The Hixon Railway Disaster : The Inside Story, most of the book is about other accidents, in particular, an account of a similar accident that occurred 17 months previously at Leominster in Herefordshire occupies a good deal of the text.
To provide an understanding of the accident, the author describes many of the potential problems that were overlooked before Automatic Half-Barrier level-crossings were introduced. However, a considerable part of the book concentrates on the Leominster accident in which the author describes the investigation and subsequent report, but omits a detailed description of the events leading up to the accident and a plan of where it happened.
The same comments apply to his description of the Hixon disaster. There is very little description of the events leading up to the disaster, and neither is there a plan of the location where it happened.
A brief comment on the cover flyleaf tells us that the train was a passenger train, but there is no specific detail about the train, where it was travelling from and to, or whether it was hauled by an electric or diesel locomotive. There is no detailed plan of the accident, so there is no way of knowing how far across the level crossing the transporter had travelled before it was struck by the train, or whether it was struck a glancing blow or hit full-on. Also, there are no details of how many people were injured or whether there were any fatalities.
From a comment on page 41 of the book, I got the impression that the author was too intimately involved in the Leominster accident to be able to offer a reasoned assessment of what happened at Hixon. It states “my father's role in preventing a catastrophic accident at Leominster was not mentioned at all in the Hixon Inquiry Report.”
The book is titled The Hixon Railway Disaster, but the photographic section opens with the photos shown below of a signal box at Leominster and the level crossing where the Leominster accident occurred.
As noted elsewhere in this review, much of the book concentrates on an accident at Leominster, and the top photo on the left page below shows two telecommunications technicians who were involved in that accident. They add nothing to a description of the Hixon accident. Many of the photographs in the book are not of particularly good quality, whilst their captions contain a number of assumptions, such as the photo at the top-right which states it “appears to be” and “was probably taken on”. The bottom-right photo is much too dark to be of use.
Whilst the pages below show the wreckage, other than the previous rather indistinct photo there is no photo of the train itself.
The illustration at the top right is the only detailed map of the location of the accident, but is not particularly relevant to the accident, as it is an installation diagram and does not show in which direction the transporter was moving, which line the train was on, or what the point of impact between the train and the transporter was. Also, the photo at the bottom right shows another view of the level crossing that was the site of the previous Leominster accident.
To illustrate the book's over-emphasis with the previous Leominster accident instead of concentrating on events leading up to the Hixon accident, at the top-left below is yet another photo of the Leominster level crossing.
In summary, the book provides an interesting description of the problems surrounding the introduction of Automatic Half Barrier level crossings, which were the main cause of the Hixon accident. However, as stated in the book, the author's father was involved in a previous accident at Leominster, and much of the narrative concentrates on events surrounding that accident rather than what happened at Hixon. There is a description of what happened before and after the event, but very little of the accident itself, why the transporter was on that road at the time it happened, or the aftermath and rescue operation. Despite the title to the book being “The Hixon Railway Disaster : The Inside Story”, most of the book describes other accidents, but it does give an insight into what was done to investigate them. The book will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about the pros and cons of Automatic Half Barrier level crossings, or about what goes on during judicial inquiries into railway accidents.
The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Pen & Sword.
We would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.
The incident at Leominster was not actually an accident, rather a near-miss. A heavy transporter operated by the same hauliers involved in the Hixon accident some 14 months later, grounded on the level crossing and was unable to drive off the railway. At considerable risk to his own safety, the driver remained in his cab and, by accelerating the engine and violently letting the clutch in, managed to drag his vehicle clear just as a train approached.
The report of the full Public Enquiry into Hixon is available at The Railways Archive website and provides a very full description of both the Leominster and Hixon incidents, as well as detailed information on the background to the design and installation of Auto Half Barrier crossings in the UK, the failings of various organisations involved in the Hixon accident and the changes made to AHB operation as a result.