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Railway Ghosts

Paul_Exeter said:
Hadn't realised that the second accident mentioned in the video is also in that pdf (scroll down) and happened on the same Occupation Crossing 240 feet away from the signal box. So this:

View attachment 73359


... is the wrong crossing in an area of numerous level crossings due to the flat lay of the land. Seems this is case closed or did the signal box get moved?
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Possibly the BBC done that for effect or it's a different signal box entirely.
 
kesavaross said:
Possibly the BBC done that for effect or it's a different signal box entirely.
Click to expand...
Possible, however the whole narrative revolves around the signallers hearing ghostly crashes and seeing a 'phantom' car from the signal box but we know from the HMRI reports that the crossing is 250 feet away and so any noises heard or vehicles seen would have been open to interpretation, especially with farm vehicles operating in the fields etc.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Possible, however the whole narrative revolves around the signallers hearing ghostly crashes from the signal box but we know from the HMRI reports that the crossing is 250 feet away and so any noises heard would have been open to interpretation, especially with farm vehicles operating in the fields etc.
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The accident happened at 7am in the morning. It's not made clear at what time of day or night the ghostly sounds have been heard. The signalman seems to imply it was at night time. There's also no real clarity whether it was heard just once or on several occasions.
 
This shows the location of the crossing now.
https://www.essexghosthunters.co.uk/haunted-places/cambridgeshire/conington-level-crossing
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4628702,-0.2459908,1714m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu

Something about the signal box.
http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/ConingtonNorthbox.html

The Colonel had been shooting with the witness according to the report. Perhaps the occupational crossing 80 yards from the signal box was on a farm track and not the crossing seen next to the signal box in the video.
 
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Erinaceus said:
This shows the location of the crossing now.
https://www.essexghosthunters.co.uk/haunted-places/cambridgeshire/conington-level-crossing
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4628702,-0.2459908,1714m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu

Something about the signal box.
http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/ConingtonNorthbox.html

The Colonel had been shooting with the witness according to the report. Perhaps the occupational crossing 80 yards from the signal box was on a farm track and not the crossing seen next to the signal box in the video.
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Yes, the HMRI report states it was the farm track 80 yards from the signal box:

"1 have the honour to report for the information of the Minister of Transport, in accordance with the Order of 19th October 1948, the result of my Inquiry into a further accident, similar to lhat dealt with in
the foregoing Report, which took place at the same occupation crossing at 5.26 p.m. on 16th October.
On this occasion a Chrysler saloon motorcar, crossing the line from east to west and driven by Colonel A. H. Mellows, a Peterborough solicitor, was struck and wrecked by an up empty coaching stock train travelling under clear signals at about 50 m.p.h. I regret to report that Colonel Mellows was killed instantly. His passenger, Mr. A. F. Percival, Clerk to the Peterborough magistrates, had alighted to open the gates : he was closing the east gate when the accident happened."

https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/uk/mot/MoT_Conington1948.pdf
 
Paul_Exeter said:
It was the site of two accidents in 1948 in which vehicles were hit by cars, killing a former mayor of Peterborough and six German prisoners of war."
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I don't understand why there were German prisoners of war in England in 1948.
From 1939 to 1945, yes, but not 1948.
 
IbisNibs said:
I don't understand why there were German prisoners of war in England in 1948.
From 1939 to 1945, yes, but not 1948.
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Lots of reasons:
  • Repatriation was a major project and Italians were given priority (as they had capitulated and given assistance).
  • Many prisoners were taken in the late stages of the European war and had to be interrogated and de-Nazified before return.
  • German PoWs in camps in mainland Europe were sent back to Britain in 1946 because the camps there were of an unsatisfactory standard.
  • Britain was impoversished and suffering major labour shortages. The majority of post-war PoWs were working in agriculture and (re)construction—mostly the former. They were not badly treated and later received token wages in addition to food, clothing and medical care. I'd have rather been here than endure the privations of occupied Germany immediately after the war.
  • Schemes were established for suitable Germans who wished to stay in Britain to convert their PoW status. This required checks and approval and stays were extended to facilitate them.
  • The winter of 1946-47 was particularly brutal and many Germans in captivity provided genuinely valuable labour in keeping roads and railway lines open.
  • Probably more I don't know about!
Wikipedia gives these numbers:

SmartSelect_20240130_151531_Samsung Internet.jpg

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_prisoners_of_war_in_the_United_Kingdom#:~:text=Large numbers of German prisoners,to fall when repatriation began.
 
Quoting myself'ere -

During WW2 POWs were kept in camps near my home town. They were grateful to be there and the locals took pride in taking care of them.

There was a labour shortage so the men were employed (with pay as per the Geneva Convention) on farms and in factories. They were trusted to come and go as free men and would frequent the town pubs, often being given lifts home and smuggled back into the camp to avoid missing their curfew. The local economy would have struggled without them and they were respected as diligent and conscientious workers.

Many stayed after the war and settled down with women they'd met. There was no animosity towards them.
Our families of Italian and German origin get along with everyone, including the descendants of Polish military who were stranded here during the war. We all know Fascism is rubbish.
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@Mythopoeika mentioned that
The brick works near Bedford and Peterborough provided employment for many Italian POWs who settled here after the war.
Hence the reason why Peterborough is also known as Pizzaborough...
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We too had lots of Italian POWs. The ones who stayed started ice cream companies and we still build most of the nation's ice cream vans.
 
Manchester City legend, Bert Trautmann was a famous example of a settled German POW.

Released in 1948 - turned down repatriation, and became an adoptive Northerner and footballing hero.

Reputedly the first man to wear Adidas gear in the UK. (He was a pal of 'Adi' Dassler).

IbisNibs said:
I don't understand why there were German prisoners of war in England in 1948.
From 1939 to 1945, yes, but not 1948.
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My grandfather was an engineer with ICI after the war, and worked with a couple of German POWs. There were also post-war POWs working on the railways - especially on the freight system, I believe. There were also a lot of displaced Poles in the area, and a form of segregation appears to have taken place - the free Poles working the quarries, the German POWs the metal shops and railways. For obvious reasons, mixing the two groups was probably not considered advisable.
 
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Cochise said:
This was the third or fourth fatal in the areal, next signal box towards London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connington_South_rail_crash

Very bizarre - which I know is not the same as Fortean. Apparently deliberate derailment of a train 'to see what would happen'. Some mental similarities with Graham Young the poisoner?
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Crikey, quite a tragic stretch of track, no wonder the signallers felt the area was haunted
 
Paul_Exeter said:
@MorningAngel posted this on another thread:

"Staff at a level crossing where multiple people died in a single year claimed to have seen "phantom" cars and heard strange noises.

A BBC report from September 1973 featured the accounts of workers who manned the Conington North level crossing near Peterborough.

One said: "The first thing I saw was a car at the other side of the crossing and when I went to let it over, it was gone."

It was the site of two accidents in 1948 in which vehicles were hit by cars, killing a former mayor of Peterborough and six German prisoners of war."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67451874
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The clip in the above link is taken from a slightly longer piece which is available on the BBC Archive facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=497051050667930
 
Paul_Exeter said:
... is the wrong crossing in an area of numerous level crossings due to the flat lay of the land. Seems this is case closed or did the signal box get moved?
Click to expand...

I am by no means a railway enthusiast, but I do know that it's not unknown for signal boxes to be dismantled and moved.

Mind you, I only that because of this thread - and the response to my post #182, made a few years back.
 
In the tiny town of Chapel Hill, Tennessee on June 8, 1942, Skip Adjent carrying a lantern walking on the railroad tracks was hit and killed by a passing train.

Now at night over the years many people swear they see his lantern float down the tracks.

It is not unusual for people to gather by the tracks at night to watch the floating lantern, but being dangerous another man in the past was also hit and killed.

The Chapel Hill floating lantern is widely known in the area.

http://southernghoststories.com/tennessee-ghost-stories-the-chapel-hill-ghost-light
 
It's interesting, the motif of lights featuring in ghost stories when perhaps these have no business being an element of hauntings (if indeed ghosts really are appearances of dead, formerly conscious beings). Whether these are will-o'-the-wisps, candlelit processions of ghostly monks, flaming torches held by deceased warriors etc, these details are so often mentioned.

So what is the truth: writerly detail, implemented to add a frisson to a story? Or...well, how on Earth do long-perished objects, clothes, vehicles & so on 'return' when these never lived in the first place?
 
charliebrown said:
People who have seen the floating light describe it more of an orb than lantern.

A floating orb could be the dead man’s restless spirit.
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Floating orb lights are often reported in haunted buildings (to be clear, I'm talking about directly witnessed, not artefacts of digital photography), as well as the myriad outdoor sightings.
 
Steven said:
It's interesting, the motif of lights featuring in ghost stories when perhaps these have no business being an element of hauntings (if indeed ghosts really are appearances of dead, formerly conscious beings). Whether these are will-o'-the-wisps, candlelit processions of ghostly monks, flaming torches held by deceased warriors etc, these details are so often mentioned.

So what is the truth: writerly detail, implemented to add a frisson to a story? Or...well, how on Earth do long-perished objects, clothes, vehicles & so on 'return' when these never lived in the first place?
Click to expand...

In terms of the lights reported from various American railway lines, I think it's been confirmed that there are one or two ghost stories of this type that were widely published and which probably inspired the others.

As for the lights themselves and why they appear on railway lines, it's usually a case of there being a very long, straight section of track with a stretch of road running close to and parallel to it at a long distance from the viewer. The viewer is really seeing distant vehicle lights under certain atmospheric conditions.

I've just looked at Chapel Hill and sure enough we have a) a crossing on a long, straight section of rail line where people can look down the straight and b) a section of road running alongside the railway a mile or two further down the straight. Maybe at night this would give the effect of strange lights floating over the tracks (with no train being present).
 
Whatever orbs are, orbs are very commonly caught on home security cameras.

People want to believe that it’s their dead relations that are visiting.

Obviously, this railroad track in Chapel Hill is special.
 
Spookdaddy said:
I am by no means a railway enthusiast, but I do know that it's not unknown for signal boxes to be dismantled and moved.

Mind you, I only that because of this thread - and the response to my post #182, made a few years back.
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Some information here:

http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/ConingtonNorthbox.html

It does appear that as second signal box (Conington North) was built a mile to the north of an existing one, which then became 'Conington South'. This could explain why at the times of the accidents there wasn't an adjacent signal box (as per the report) but that one was possibly built at that location in later years
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Some information here:

http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/ConingtonNorthbox.html

It does appear that as second signal box (Conington North) was built a mile to the north of an existing one, which then became 'Conington South'. This could explain why at the times of the accidents there wasn't an adjacent signal box (as per the report) but that one was possibly built at that location in later years
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That makes sense. I spent half an evening trying to figure it out but I never thought of that.
 
Floyd1 said:
This one?
https://mysevenoakscommunity.com/who-was-the-lady-on-the-train-was-she-a-ghost/
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Cross-posting this from the Road Ghosts thread. This is great:

The 24 August this year will mark the 93rd anniversary of a dramatic train crash just outside Sevenoaks which claimed the lives of 13 people. Several years ago, former Dunton Green resident Anthony Perry, a retired Facilities Manager with the NHS, had a strange encounter he believes could be connected with the accident. He has kept quiet about his experience but has now decided to tell his story here in his own words in the hope someone can shed some light on the incident

I had a very strange experience on Tuesday, 5 June 2007. It is 13 years ago since the incident occurred, however it has continued to enter my thoughts regularly over the years and I feel that I need to find out certain information to be able to put this experience to rest.

I am aware that most people are sceptical on the subject of what is to follow, but I can only express how it happened on that day.

(continue reading here or, if in the future the link is broken, here at Waybackmachine)
 
Sounds ghost story with added steam trains.

A girl on a late night train journey meets a man with a strange tale to tell. Starring Clive Swift and Lyndsey Marshal.
Nick Warburton's ghostly drama is set in the age of steam railways.

Dove: Clive Swift
Connie: Lyndsey Marshal
Director: Claire Grove

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008

Available Here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00770q3
 
SimonBurchell said:
Cross-posting this from the Road Ghosts thread. This is great:

The 24 August this year will mark the 93rd anniversary of a dramatic train crash just outside Sevenoaks which claimed the lives of 13 people. Several years ago, former Dunton Green resident Anthony Perry, a retired Facilities Manager with the NHS, had a strange encounter he believes could be connected with the accident. He has kept quiet about his experience but has now decided to tell his story here in his own words in the hope someone can shed some light on the incident

I had a very strange experience on Tuesday, 5 June 2007. It is 13 years ago since the incident occurred, however it has continued to enter my thoughts regularly over the years and I feel that I need to find out certain information to be able to put this experience to rest.

I am aware that most people are sceptical on the subject of what is to follow, but I can only express how it happened on that day.

(continue reading here or, if in the future the link is broken, here at Waybackmachine)
Click to expand...
 
SimonBurchell said:
'I had a very strange experience on Tuesday, 5 June 2007. It is 13 years ago since the incident occurred, however it has continued to enter my thoughts regularly over the years and I feel that I need to find out certain information to be able to put this experience to rest.

I am aware that most people are sceptical on the subject of what is to follow, but I can only express how it happened on that day.'

(continue reading here or, if in the future the link is broken, here at Waybackmachine)
Click to expand...
That's a good one!
 
RaM said:
Sounds ghost story with added steam trains.

A girl on a late night train journey meets a man with a strange tale to tell. Starring Clive Swift and Lyndsey Marshal.
Nick Warburton's ghostly drama is set in the age of steam railways.

Dove: Clive Swift
Connie: Lyndsey Marshal
Director: Claire Grove

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008

Available Here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00770q3
Click to expand...
Ghosts and trains. :cool:
 
RaM said:
Sounds ghost story with added steam trains.

A girl on a late night train journey meets a man with a strange tale to tell. Starring Clive Swift and Lyndsey Marshal.
Nick Warburton's ghostly drama is set in the age of steam railways.

Dove: Clive Swift
Connie: Lyndsey Marshal
Director: Claire Grove

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008

Available Here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00770q3
Click to expand...

This rambles a bit before it hits its stride, but it gets quite sinister with a twist and a half and ends darkly.

Worth a listen.
 

Man in Blue Overalls​

Location: EC2Y (Greater London) - Moorgate station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Workmen repairing the station said they had seen a man in blue overalls walking through the tunnel with a horrified look on his face. The figure vanished into a wall.

https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/recent/index.php
 
This is a great one:

Footless Figure​

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Portsmouth & Southsea Train Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 January 2016, between 05:00h - 05:30h
Further Comments: Standing alone at the empty station, a commuter suddenly spotted a man wearing a 1940s suit standing at the opposite end of the platform. The slightly transparent figure did not have any facial features and, despite also lacking feet, started to walk towards the commuter, who fled in terror. The commuter refused to return to the site and subsequently used another station to travel.

https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/recent/index.php
 
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