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soils in the right hand slip, on the southern side of the line where the accident had happened, had fallen between the bank and the rails and amounted to one or two cart-loads and lay "in a sort of circle". The slip appeared to have occurred in the bank ten or twelve feet up from the bottom of the cutting. The witness estimated the distance between the wooden bridge and the site of the slip as being about 240 yards (220 m). Asked by the coroner if he saw anything else at the site of the slip, the witness replied that on the day in question he had seen two workmen shovelling soils back from the rails. Through the coroner, Brunel asked the witness whether he had seen drainage tiles near the spot, which he had not. When asked by a juror the witness said that the slip had not been made good, nor was it in the days that ensued. Brunel then asked the witness if he knew that slips were normally left open to drain them, but the witness said he knew nothing of this.
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had not moved and therefore could not have contributed to the slip. The passenger trucks on the train had been between the tender and the goods waggons because this was the safest place for them: "many accidents might arise to passengers if placed in the rear of the luggage trains" if a following train ran into it.
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One of those injured in the accident and moved to the Royal
Berkshire Hospital died six days later. The inquest was held at Reading and the evidence heard was similar to that produced during the first inquest. Brunel added that in his opinion the derailment had been caused by a large stone, about two
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The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, but in their opinion the accident might have been avoided had there been a watch in the cutting. They therefore placed a deodand of one hundred pounds on the engine and its train and recommended that in future passenger trucks should be placed further
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Brunel in evidence then stated that he had examined the slip that caused the accident, but that it was a new one, close to the earlier one. The cutting was 57 feet (17 m) deep, 40 feet (12 m) wide at the bottom, 268 feet (82 m) wide at the top. Spoil heaps on the top edge of the slope
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The inquest on the victims who died at the scene of the accident was begun in the afternoon of the day of its occurrence, but then adjourned until the following
Tuesday, 28 December 1841. The proceedings were held at the Shepherd's House Inn, which is near the scene of the accident. A jury of twelve
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could not obtain details of the evidence produced there. However, he wrote that, in the opinion of people living in the neighbourhood of the crash, the part of the cutting where the accident occurred was not secure; the cutting was deep, the sides were too steep and the soil through which it was cut
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cutting, the train ran into soil that had slipped from the side of the cutting onto the track, covering it two or three feet (0.61 or 0.91 m) deep. The engine and tender were derailed immediately and "the next truck, which contained the passengers, was thrown athwart the line, and in an instant
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Other witnesses called confirmed having seen bulging and slips in the embankment near to the site of the accident. A GWR employee testified that between two and three weeks before the accident he had noticed a slip at the place where the accident happened. He and four men had drained the slip and a
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The inquest then considered whether or not the bank slip that caused the accident might have been reasonably predicted. The first witness was a labourer who crossed a wooden bridge over the cutting twice a day and knew the spot where the slip happened. He had noticed bulging in the soils and a slip
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The next witness was a bricklayer who said that he knew the cutting well and that about two weeks before the accident he passed over the wooden bridge and on looking down the line towards
Twyford he had noticed two slips nearly opposite each another, one on the right and the other on the left. The
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has taken place without previous symptoms". In reply to a question about the wisdom of placing the passenger trucks immediately behind the tender Brunel stated that this was the safest place because "there have been many instances of a train running into the luggage train on the
Western Railway".
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of one thousand pounds on the engine, tender, and carriages. The coroner refused to reveal the basis on which deodand had been made, but subsequently it emerged that firstly, "the jury are of opinion that great blame attached to the company in placing the passenger trucks so near the engine", and
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was overwhelmed by the trucks behind, which were thrown into the air by the violence of the collision, and fell with fearful force upon it". Eight passengers were killed and sixteen others were "more or less severely wounded". After being extracted from the wreckage, the injured were taken to the
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Recent heavy rain had saturated the soil in the cutting causing it to slip, covering the line on which the train was travelling. On running into the slipped soil the engine was derailed, causing it to slow rapidly. The passenger coaches were crushed between the goods waggons and the tender. Eight
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The coroner stated that the object of the inquest was to hear evidence as to whether the earth slip that caused the accident had been sudden, or whether "it had occurred after a previous indication, which called-for and required the attention of the railway company...". Harrowing evidence on the
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on
Christmas Day, with the headline "Frightful Accident on the Great Western Railway". Reporting was hindered by "strict reserve on the part of all the company's servants", but the account given in the newspaper could, according to The Times "be relied on as substantially correct".
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which had exposed drainage tiles at the same place, about two weeks before the accident happened. The witness did not know the distance between the wooden bridge and the slip, but the foreman of the jury said that it was about 270 yards (250 m).
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men was sworn in and the coroner began the inquest at 9.00 am. Those present included
Charles Russell MP, chairman of the GWR, I.K. Brunel, engineer to the GWR and several other "influential gentlemen of the neighbourhood" including Mr R. Palmer MP,
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from the
Environment Agency's Magic Map. The accident occurred near to the small bite out of the top of the embankment to the north and west of Ryecroft Close. Right-click on the link and open it in a new tab or a new
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pm on the day before the accident "there was not the slightest appearance of there being any danger of a slip taking place". Later it was determined that the slip must have occurred after 4:30
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was said to be of a "loose springy nature" that showed a tendency to slip. Bank-slips had occurred before in the cutting near to the crash site and these had been reported to the
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On
Railway Cuttings and Embankments. Provides an overview of knowledge existing on this subject at about the time of the accident. The accident at Sonning Cutting is discussed.
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Deodands, in effect penalties imposed on moving objects instrumental in causing death, were abolished about five years after the accident, with the passing of the
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watch was kept on the works by night, because of the risk that further slippage might occur, but the watch was stopped after the slip had been made good.
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On the overturning of the deodand ordered in respect of
Richard Woolley, who was injured in the accident at Sonning but who died in Reading.
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feet square, that had come down with the soils and that had been found where the engine left the line. In his opinion, "this
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Sketch map of
Sonning Cutting, indicating the location of the accident. The grid lines are at intervals of 1,000 metres.
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secondly "that great neglect had occurred in not employing a sufficient watch when it was most necessarily required".
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am, because this was the time that the "up" mail train passed through the cutting on its way to London.
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passengers died at the scene and seventeen were injured seriously, one of whom died later in hospital.
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Details of the accident and subsequent proceedings were reported widely by the newspapers of the day.
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am with about 38 passengers aboard "chiefly of the poorer class". Just before 7:00
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of £1,100 (equivalent to £126,000 in 2023) in total were made on the engine (
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The coroner's jury returned a verdict of accidental death in all cases, and a
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indicates railway accidents and incidents resulting in at least 20 fatalities
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identification of those killed was then heard: they were in the main
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Wheels to Disaster!: The Oxford train wreck of Christmas Eve, 1874
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pm on the same day, in a nearby public house, but The Times's
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station entered Sonning Cutting. The train was made up of the
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A section through the cutting at the scene of the accident.
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occurred during the early hours of 24 December 1841 in the
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working in London who were returning home for Christmas.
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Provides a short contemporaneous report of the accident.
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Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1844.
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Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847
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Accidents and incidents involving Great Western Railway
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Railway accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom
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The first reports of the accident were published in
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46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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327:An inquest on those killed was opened at 3:00
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1257:Railway accidents and incidents in Berkshire
470:List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom
597:Railways archive report on Sonning accident
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571:Lewis, Peter R; Nisbet, Alistair (2008).
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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299:The train left Paddington at about 4:30
633:The Mechanics' Magazine, January 1842.
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287:approaching the scene of the accident.
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1297:1841 disasters in the United Kingdom
324:, a radical activist, and his wife.
246:(GWR) luggage train travelling from
44:adding citations to reliable sources
55:"Sonning Cutting railway accident"
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642:A letter concerning the accident.
219:List of UK rail accidents by year
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602:Large scale map of accident site
228:Sonning Cutting railway accident
123:Sonning Cutting railway accident
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31:needs additional citations for
283:Sonning Cutting today, with a
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1277:History of Reading, Berkshire
375:in which the crash happened.
540:. London: John Bedford Leno.
504:. London. 25 December 1841.
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621:The Annual Register, 1842.
184:Line obstructed (landslip)
1282:19th century in Berkshire
1267:Railway accidents in 1841
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997:Kildwick & Crosshills
538:A memoir of T. M. Wheeler
536:Stevens, William (1862).
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314:Royal Berkshire Hospital
562:Lewis, Peter R (2007).
352:Isambard Kingdom Brunel
175:Great Western Main Line
1287:Derailments in England
636:The Modern Mechanical
425:away from the engine.
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433:At the two inquests,
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338:Great Western Railway
322:Thomas Martin Wheeler
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244:Great Western Railway
1292:December 1841 events
252:Bristol Temple Meads
40:improve this article
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988:Shipton-on-Cherwell
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664:51.4626°N 0.9084°W
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517:Missing or empty
458:Deodands Act 1846
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726:(Jul 1815)
652:51°27′45″N
575:. Tempus.
486:References
285:down train
189:Statistics
66:newspapers
1233:1900–1999
1181:Menheniot
1175:Penistone
1163:Menheniot
1089:Penistone
1080:Hexthorpe
1074:Penistone
1065:Penistone
967:Menheniot
943:Stairfoot
830:Helmshore
813:Round Oak
760:Penistone
655:0°54′30″W
566:. Tempus.
557:. Sutton.
510:cite news
501:The Times
293:The Times
147:~06:50 am
1193:St Johns
1151:St Neots
1145:Chelford
1009:Radstock
949:Hatfield
937:Tamworth
899:Abergele
807:Lewisham
795:Straffan
736:Wetheral
730:Parkside
553:(1998).
464:See also
435:deodands
234:through
152:Location
1262:Sonning
1157:Snowdon
1021:Morpeth
887:Yanwath
842:Wootton
789:Burnley
605:window.
404:deodand
318:Reading
309:Sonning
307:am, in
238:, near
210:Injured
166:England
163:Country
137:Details
80:scholar
1133:Thirsk
1095:Armagh
1015:Heeley
979:Thorpe
931:Newark
869:Rednal
748:Howden
742:Harrow
638:Moloch
579:
346:
342:
329:
305:
301:
202:Deaths
194:Trains
82:
75:
68:
61:
53:
1108:1890s
1040:1880s
961:Wigan
924:1870s
823:1860s
776:1850s
615:Ibid.
439:Hecla
261:Hecla
181:Cause
87:JSTOR
73:books
577:ISBN
523:help
242:. A
226:The
171:Line
142:Date
59:news
316:at
250:to
42:by
1248::
514::
512:}}
508:{{
460:.
450:MP
447:JP
213:16
1223:‡
1099:‡
1084:‡
1069:‡
1031:‡
992:‡
983:‡
903:‡
852:‡
701:e
694:t
687:v
640:.
585:.
525:)
521:(
205:9
197:1
109:)
103:(
98:)
94:(
84:·
77:·
70:·
63:·
36:.
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