Glasgow St Enoch rail accident
Encyclopedia
The Glasgow St Enoch rail accident occurred on 27 July 1903. A train arriving at the St Enoch terminal station
St Enoch railway station
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 failed to stop in time and collided heavily with the buffer stop
Buffer stop
A buffer stop or bumper is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track.The design of the buffer stop is dependent in part upon the kind of couplings that the railway uses, since the coupling gear is the first part of the vehicle that the buffer stop...

, sustaining severe damage. Sixteen people were killed and 27 injured. This was the worst buffer stop collision on British main line railways, though exceeded by the Moorgate
Moorgate tube crash
The Moorgate tube crash was a railway disaster on the London Underground, which occurred on 28 February 1975 at 08.46 am.A southbound train on the Northern Line crashed into the tunnel end beyond the platform at Moorgate station...

 tragedy on the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

.

Collisions with buffer stops have frequently occurred over the years, the most recent fatal one in the UK being the London Cannon Street station rail crash
Cannon Street station rail crash
The Cannon Street station rail crash was an accident on the British railway system which occurred on 8 January 1991 at Cannon Street station. The accident killed two people and injured 524 others...

 in 1991. However, normally they occur at very low speed, less than 5 mph. The severity of the St Enoch accident was because the collision speed was as high as 15-20 mph. An inexperienced driver on a special train from Ardrossan
Ardrossan
Ardrossan is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in south-western Scotland. The name "Ardrossan" describes its physical position — 'ard' from the Gaelic àird meaning headland, 'ros' a promontory and the diminutive suffix '-an' - headland of the little promontory...

 was signalled into a platform which he did not realise was much shorter than the others, terminating short of the overall roof and well short of the main concourse. He therefore braked much too late. The solid masonry platform behind the buffer stops presented an immovable barrier and two coaches were completely telescoped
Telescoping (railway)
In a railway accident, telescoping occurs when the underframe of one vehicle overrides that of another, and smashes through the second vehicle's body...

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