LB&SCR crash, Mayfield, September 1897

[John]

On 1st September 1897, there was a railway accident on a curved section of track between Heathfield and Mayfield, part of the LB&SCR, near Clayton Farm. A six-carriage train pulled by the engine Bonchurch was derailed and the driver was killed. The photographs below were taken at the scene of the accident by local resident Mrs. Kate Rogers.

[daveSea]

The crash occurred exactly 17 years after the line opened on 1st September 1880. Was the driver the only casualty?

Here is another picture -seems to have been a popular attraction!