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Home » Articles » Penmaenmawr train crash, August 1950Penmaenmawr train crash, August 1950
A series of photographs, taken by Geoff Charles, at the site of the Penmaenmawr train crash in which six people were killed.
A series of photographs, taken by Geoff Charles, at the site of the Penmaenmawr train crash in which six people were killed.
Five of the six killed on 27 August were fast asleep when a train full of passengers returning from their holidays in Ireland collided with another train at a speed of 70 mph near Penmaenmawr, Caernarfonshire. As a result of a mix up in the signal box a small engine was making its way towards Llandudno when the Irish Mail fast train was travelling in the same direction on the same line. A fireman on board the small engine heard the Irish Mail coming and signalled to the signal box with his lamp that a collision was about to happen. The signal changed from green to red but it was too late. The passenger train collided into one of the small engine's coal wagons pushing it forwards for about 240 yards, ripping the tracks as they moved forward. The force of the collision shattered Irish Mail's dormer carriage and five people inside were killed, further carriages were thrown off the rails.
Source: Gwyn Jenkins (ed.), 'Llyfr y Ganrif' (Talybont, Y Lolfa, 1999).
