Bold St Bridge disaster. Anniversary

Possum3 · Guru

Bold St Bridge disaster. Anniversary

DMaxer · Guru

I remember that very well Possum. My recently deceased aunty lived on the Blue Mountains and would catch that train every working day and had done so for years. The majority of the passengers would buy a yearly ticket that came in the form of a metal medallion which they would either wear on a bracelet or on their watch band. My aunty had a booking so sat in the same seat for years and knew just about all the other people in the carriage through their daily return trip to Sydney.

Strangely, for the first time in her working life my aunty decided to extend her Christmas break another week to enable her to complete a few jobs around her house and therefore was not on the train that day. I know how much that event traumatised her and all the other people that were involved in the accident, either as passengers or rescue people. The efforts of the police, ambulance workers, clergy and just the general public who came to assist was nothing short of outstanding.

86GTS · Senior Member

It certainly was a an awful disaster.
We have pleasant memories of that railway line.
We spent our honeymoon in the Blue Mountains at the Hydro Majestic Hotel (1972).
We caught the train into Sydney a few times, the trains were called The Fish & The Chips I think?

DMaxer · Guru

They were indeed 86GTS. Apparently there was a driver with the surname of Heron or something similar in the early 1900s that drove the train and when the new service came in they named the train "The Fish" after him. They then commenced another service and it became "The Chips". There was a heap of local politics because the trains would leave Lithgow and stop all the way to Emu Plains and then not at Penrith. I think they had only two or three stops before they arrived at Central.

The train involved in this accident was the Mt Victoria train that had old wooden carriages and was pulled by a diesel. The Fish and The Chips were the latest aluminium electric trains. I think that is how it was, I know the one in the accident was the 6.09 from Mt Victoria. It had all those old corridor on the outside and compartments on the inside in some carriages and two seats either side in the other ones. It was a very old service and originally was pulled by steam locomotives.

That was a terrible day that traumatised some people for the rest of their lives. The police rescue were just so brave. They were crawling into carriages that had tonnes of concrete on top of them, there were gas leaks and live power lines. It was a very hot day and some of the carriages were flattened to about 60 centimetres yet they were crawling in looking for survivors.

Whenarewethere · Guru

My dad worked nearby at the time. Luckily he drove to work, but it did affect everyone.

Even worse was all the cover ups before during & after of lack of maintenance & a lot of people being threatened to keep their mouths shut.

Whenarewethere · Guru

A couple of years earlier was Tasmania Bridge disaster 5 Jan 1975.

rmoor · Senior Member

Wow 1977. Remember it like it was yesterday.
I recall those old carriages with the corridor outside the small compartments.
My favourite were the old sleepers cabins with the brass wash basin that dropped down and the double bunks. My bunk was the suitcase compartment above the door.
Our mum used to take us annually to Harbord beach where her sister owned a big block of units close to the beach.
The trip over the mountains was painfully slow but that was the best part of the adventure.
I guess we passed under the Granville Bridge a few times too.
Fate is a strange thing.

rmoor · Senior Member

We also often had a train full of junior rugby players en route for an annual clash with Manly Vikings.
I reckon the rail porters used to curse when they found out there were about 60 terrors on board for the next 12 hours.
They were the days of every kid had a box full of firecrackers, twopenny bungers and threepenny bungers.
Very bad career choice for the porters and station hands in the backwaters.

Sadly I thought the toll was around 60 people with the Granville disaster?

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I too remember it well but then that decade wasn't the best for rail or bridge disasters. It all started back on the 15/10/1970 when the Westgate Bridge collapsed. My Dad was involved in the rescue efforts. I remember him coming home a few days later a shaking mess.

Possum3 · Guru

rmoor wrote:
Sadly I thought the toll was around 60 people with the Granville disaster?

Unfortunately 83 Deceased and 213 injured + hundreds of traumatized rescuers, medicos and civilians.

Ivan 01 · Guru

A tragic day.

That incident affected so many people at the time.

I remember it so well.

86GTS · Senior Member

Dougwe wrote:
I too remember it well but then that decade wasn't the best for rail or bridge disasters. It all started back on the 15/10/1970 when the Westgate Bridge collapsed. My Dad was involved in the rescue efforts. I remember him coming home a few days later a shaking mess.

I was still doing my Civil/Structural Design Drafting course at the time that the Westgate Bridge collapsed.

One of my lecturers worked for Maunsell & Partners, the designers of the bridge.

From the 18th floor of the building in the CBD where I worked we could see the missing span that had collapsed on that awful day.

Believe it or not, underneath that bridge sheared off bolts & rivets are still collected on a regular basis. I avoid crossing it if possible.

-- Edited by 86GTS on Thursday 19th of January 2023 10:29:36 AM

Magnarc · Guru

A timely reminder Possum. Two very sad days in our history.