Tunnel drama as people flee blazing train

12:19pm Thursday 11th October 2007

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By Gill Johnson »

THIS month is the 40th anniversary of the Sough Tunnel train drama in Darwen.

In October 1967, passengers were forced to leap from a blazing diesel in the mile-long tunnel after its oil tanks exploded.

The two-coach train, the 8.30am from Blackburn to Manchester was reduced to a shell of twisted metal.

Many of the 48 passengers clasped each other's hands to form a chain as they stumbled through the smoke-filled darkness towards the open air at the Darwen end.

Eight people were taken to Blackburn Infirmary, suffering the effects of fumes, four passengers and four rail workers - driver Robert Handley, of Accrington; guard David Westwood, who came from Manchester and raised the alarm, trainee driver Robert Grogan and trainee signalman Joseph Mercer, both of Blackburn.

A man and woman passenger, Henrik Gerritson, of Lower Darwen and Doris Shearer, of Blackburn, who started to walk towards the Bolton end of the tunnel lost their way after several falls and were in the darkness for 90 minutes before firemen and ambulancemen heard their cries and went to the rescue.

Ganger John Rawlings, of Blackburn, was the first to learn what had happened when he saw the guard stagger out of the tunnel and shout for the line to be blocked.

He ran over a mile to the Spring Vale signal box to that trains could be stopped.

One passenger Derek Smith, of Darwen, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph at the time: "I was in the back of the train and as it entered the tunnel I thought I heard a bang.

"A little later flames shot up at the back of the coach and the train stopped.

"It started to fill up with fumes and smoke and we all started to leave to get away from the choking atmosphere.

"Most of us seemed to drop into deep mud and puddles and we caught hold of each other, forming a chain to escape."

After the passengers emerged from the tunnel, people living close by took them into their homes for a cup of tea and to let them clean themselves up.

Special buses later arrived to take them on their way.

Firemen had to lay three quarters of a mile of hose before the water supply could reach the spot. Later they used ladders down the steep embankment to carry cans of foam.

They worked in the tunnel in waist deep mud to quench the flames and wore breathing apparatus because of the heat and fumes The line was closed for some time and trains were diverted via the Preston - Bolton line.