On the evening of 5 November 1967, a packed passenger train was making an otherwise ordinary journey from Hastings towards London Charing Cross when, on the approach to Hither Green, its third coach suddenly derailed at around 70 mph.
What followed became one of Britain's deadliest post-war railway accidents. Coaches overturned, the train was scattered across more than half a kilometre of railway and 49 lost their lives.
In this episode of Signals to Danger, we reconstruct the Hither Green disaster and ask a deceptively simple question: why do trains derail?
From wheel and rail dynamics to suspension, track condition and obstructions, we explore the different ways a train can leave the rails before following investigators to the small fatigue crack which ultimately revealed what had gone wrong at Hither Green — and the changes to rail inspection and infrastructure which followed.
OPENING CREDITS
Music track: Epic Motivation by Aylex
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END CREDITS
Music track: Saved by Brothers by Aylex
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Signals to Danger is a UK railway history and safety podcast exploring rail accidents, incidents and the investigations that followed them. From historic railway disasters to modern rail safety and current events, each episode looks beyond what happened to understand why it happened, what was learned and how those lessons continue to shape the railway today.
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