Remembering the St John’s Rail Disaster, Lewisham : The Human Cost of a Catastrophe

A gripping and disturbing account of the horror that followed a mistake on a foggy evening in 1950s South East London. On Wednesday 4 December 1957, the 4.56pm steam express for Ramsgate left London's Cannon Street over an hour late, due to thick fog. The driver at the controls of the locomotive knew the route like the back of his hand, yet, somehow, the express passed two caution signals at speed between New Cross and St John's, ploughing at 30mph into the rear of a stationary electric train packed with 1,500 passengers. The catastrophic collision at St John's, Lewisham, was a horrifying disaster, the third worst in British railway history. Ninety people died and over 200 were injured. This new study by Tony Redding presents a detailed analysis of the terrible consequences for the families caught up in the tragedy. The narrative, built on painstaking research and including many interviews with eyewitnesses and families, shows how the human cost of this disaster spread far beyond the direct victims. In some cases, its malign influence is still alive today. AUTHOR: Tony Redding's career was in business journalism and media communications. He specialised in media response to crises major accidents, including fires, ship casualties, oil spills and other severe incidents. He has written widely and lectured extensively on WW2 military history, and has participated in various TV programmes, including the Narrow Escapes series. In 2022 he obtained a Doctorate from King's College, London on the British Nuclear Deterrent and is a lecturer for U3A on military history and other topics. His non-military books cover subjects ranging from marine salvage to growing up in the 1950s. 57 b/w illustrations