The train crash that ended 60 years of rail travel between Chichester and Midhurst

The day was November 19, 1951, and the locomotive had left Bognor shed for Chichester to pick up the daily goods train for a trip to Midhurst. On the footplate was driver Fred Bunker of Hove and passed fireman George Howes of Bognor.

The weather was typical for November in those years, when it would rain for weeks on end. Indeed it had been pouring down all weekend and was still falling when the crew coupled up the engine to the wagons for the start of the trip up the line.

Wagons were picked up and dropped off at Lavant and Singleton before the final leg of the journey to Midhurst. The approach into Midhurst was round a horseshoe-shaped curve, with the station being seen through the trees. George Howes happened to be on the driver’s side when he looked down.

In his own words: “I’d never seen so much water down there. It was like a river.” Then on seeing there was no bank supporting the rails, he shouted to his mate and both jumped clear of the engine. Fortunately, the engine crew escaped unharmed.

The locomotive carried on until the track collapsed under its weight, with the engine burying its smokebox at the bottom of the gully. The tender shot straight up into the air and filled the cab with coal, which subsequently caught alight and burned for weeks, including the coal from the crushed wagon behind the tender. It seems the culvert running underneath the bank had been unable to cope with the water that in turn had pushed the bank away.

Once the fire from the burning coal had gone out, attempts were made to recover the loco using a crane. But every time the crane approached the scene, the bank started to give way. It was not until January 1952 that the engine was extracted by removing the embankment for several hundred yards and laying a length of track along which the engine was winched out and duly repaired.

But trains never again travelled from Chichester to Midhurst, as it was considered uneconomic to repair the track and so ended 60 years of rail connection between the towns. This had commenced in 1881 when the 12-mile line had opened and served the villages of Lavant, Singleton and Cocking.

This story and other tales of royalty, Sir Edward Elgar, bombs and the very last trains to Midhurst via Pulborough can be heard at West Sussex Record Office on November 29 at 7pm, when former assistant county archivist, Bill Gage, will be giving an illustrated talk entitled Rails to Midhurst. In addition to the talk, there will be a display of photographs and archival material.

Tickets cost £8 to attend in person and can be booked and paid for by phoning 01243 753602. To attend online, tickets cost £5 and need to be booked through evenbrite.co.uk by searching ‘Rails to Midhurst’.