On December 20, 1984, a train derailment in the Summit Tunnel sparked a devastating inferno. This article commemorates the 40th anniversary of the event, highlighting the heroism of the train crew and the scale of the disaster.
It's been 40 years since one of the most devastating underground infernos ever took place. The near tragedy saw firemen fleeing for their lives as fireballs were sent into the sky from Rochdale's hills, with hundreds of people living nearby evacuated. Built by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, the Summit Tunnel connects Littleborough and Walsden in West Yorkshire and was once the longest tunnel in the world at 2,869 yards long.
Despite being over 180 years old, the tunnel is still going strong today. It is celebrated as both a marvel of Victorian engineering and a key part of the region’s industrial heritage. On Thursday, December 20, 1984, train driver Stanley Marshall's routine journey through the tunnel turned into a catastrophe that would mark his life. The then 50-year-old was navigating his usual route, steering a freight train loaded with one million litres of petrol from the ICI plant at Haverton Hill in Teeside to the British Tar works in Glazebrook, near Warrington—a journey he had made many times. However, at around 6 am, an axle-bearing failure caused a disastrous derailment within the almost two-mile Summit tunnel at Littleborough, as they entered from the Yorkshire side at approximately 40mph. Each of the 'time bomb' tankers was carrying about 100 tons of petrol. With all but the leading three of the 13 tankers off the tracks, thousands of litres of fuel poured out and ignited. Stanley Marshall, guard Graham Broadbent, and area guard Stanley Smalley, who was hitching a ride home, were forced to flee through the pitch-black tunnel. After their nearly one-mile ordeal, they used an emergency telephone to alert the authorities. Recalling the terrifying event, Mr Marshall, whose rail career began when he was just 15 years old, told the Rochdale Observer: 'It was pitch black, and we were rattling along at the usual speed when all of a sudden, I felt a big shudder. 'I knew straight away we'd derailed and said to the guard 'quick, jump off
Disasters Summit Tunnel Train Derailment Fire History 1984
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