Runaway Train Hanging off Finsbury Park Bridge, 1959

Comment by Gordon T on July 8, 2017 at 16:37

Doubt there'd be people waiting for the bus right underneath today.

There's footage of it on Pathe News here.  A freight train ran out of control and hit an empty passenger train.

Comment by Madeline on July 14, 2017 at 6:46

That's the bridges in Stroud Green Road.

Comment by Peter John Morris on November 10, 2017 at 13:55

I just noticed re-visiting this photo that the ‘Alladin’ panto advert was for the one I actually went to with the late Bob Monkhouse starring! I remember the panto, but not the accident.

Comment by StephenBln on November 10, 2017 at 15:03

That's the 236 (from Stroud Green) bus stop. The only (single deck) route to go under the bridge. Double deckers tried it occasionally, but soon found out that it was too low.

Comment by Hugh on December 15, 2017 at 11:38

Here's a similar incident from ten years earlier. 

Comment by Reginald summers on August 2, 2024 at 6:56

I don't remember the train derailment but was living in Harringay at the time. In 1959 I had just entered my teenage years, I remember moving from Hornsey in that year to a railway house in Harringay. As my father worked on the railway based at Kings Cross where he worked the whole of his working life from the age of fourteen until his retirement. He started as a van boy on the horse and carts and he worked his way up to be a driver, then in later years became a foreman then a supervisor. Looking at the above photo of the derailment looking at the advertising boards showing Bristol cigarettes and looking at the price per pack of twenty, was three shillings and fourpence in old money that'll be just under seventeen and pence decimal today.

Comment by Hugh on January 10, 2025 at 1:18

Thank you for sharing those memories, Reginald

Comment by Paul on January 10, 2025 at 6:59

Looking up close the policeman is talking to a bus driver, they had white cap covers.

Comment by John Shulver on January 13, 2025 at 14:28

Peter John Morris.........and co-starring Ronald Shiner !   At The Coliseum ?  I only know of Harringay, Green Lanes Coliseum.  If it is that one then I never knew shows were staged there.

Comment by Jeremyb on January 17, 2025 at 8:12

I think the Coliseum on the poster is the one in St Martins Lane in the West End.

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