..........The Hamilton to Strathaven
line was authorized in 1857 and the man behind the idea was William Smith
Dixon, the great ironmaster. The line was to leave the Caledonian Hamilton
branch at Strathaven junction and run by High Blantyre, Meikle Earnock, Quarter
Road and Glassford to Strathaven. The line was opened for goods as far as
Quarter on 9th August 1860 with the Caledonian as the working company. The
goods service was extended to Strathaven on 16th June 1862 and opened for
passenger traffic on 2nd February 1863. In 1864 the H & S. was absorbed
into the Caledonian Railway.
..........On the 1st July 1909 the station name
was changed from Quarter Road to just Quarter. In 1923 the LMS Railway took
over from the Caledonian and in 1945 passenger services were withdrawn from
1st October. All the pits in the area between High Blantyre and Strathaven
had been closed and all workings between these points were withdrawn on 21st
September 1953 with the track being removed in 1959.
Quarter Station in 1930
The Railway Accident of December 1899
From the Hamilton Advertiser of 30th December 1899.
..........On Saturday afternoon
the most serious railway accident that ever occurred in the Hamilton District
took place outside Quarter Road Station on the Strathaven branch line of the
Caledonian Railway. Three people were killed and over twelve seriously injured.
The train was the 3.15 pm from Strathaven, due at Glasgow an hour later and
was made up of seven carriages. The accident occurred a little distance out
of Quarter Station on the Glassford side, where the line passed through a
single arch stone bridge. About a hundred yards from the bridge several carriages
were derailed and the impact against the bridge must have been great. In two
places considerable portions of masonry had been displaced, while on the sides
and along the arch of the bridge fragments of the carriages were firmly embedded
in the stone work. Two coaches in particular were literally smashed to splinters.
Others that passed under the bridge were thrown well up on the embankment
and were also badly smashed, with some of the wheels torn off. Although partly
derailed the engine and front carriage went on for fully two hundred yards
before being brought to a standstill, but this distance of line was tortuously
twisted and damaged.
..........The branch line from Hamilton to Strathaven
is over a dozen miles long, though the distance as the crow flies is much
shorter owing to the fact that the railway makes a long detour by way of High
Blantyre. As far as Quarter Road Station, which is within about five miles
of Strathaven, the line is double, that being necessary owing to the heavy
coal traffic, but from that point on there is only single line of rails, though
the cuttings, embankments and bridges are made with a view to probable doubling
of the line. From Strathaven Station the gradient is upwards until near Glassford
Station and then more or less sharply downwards, practically all the way to
High Blantyre. At the point where the accident happened the decline is 1 in
64 The line in passing through the fields of Burnbrae Farm enters a cutting,
which near its deepest part is spanned by a substantial stone bridge just
high enough to allow the trains to pass through. As already indicated it is
more than usually wide being designed ultimately for two pairs of rails. Coming
from Strathaven the train as it takes the cutting, enters upon an elongated
S curve, a bend to the right, then through the bridge and sharply round to
the left. The train was drawn by engine No 166 which is of the type with small
tender and no bogey wheels, used for suburban and local traffic on hilly routes
and the carriages were all bogeys except the fourth and seventh, which are
sixwheelers. The train consisted of two portions, the first three vehicles
bound for Hamilton and the others for Glasgow. The two sections would have
been separated at High Blantyre. All the plant was of modern type and in the
best of condition. Apparently the train must have left Strathaven near the
schedule time 3.15 at 3.28 pm, it was about five miles on its journey and
reduced to a wreck. How the accident was caused is yet largely a matter of
speculation. What is known with certainty from the condition of the permanent
way is that something went wrong just as the train entered upon the curving
decline at Burnbrae. One of the carriages, the second from the engine, it
was afterwards ascertained, evidently jumped the rails at that point and rushed
along out of alignment with the rest of the train, forced metals and sleepers
out of position. At first the displacement was only a few inches to the right,
but it gradually increased until at the bridge about 100 yards distant, the
displacement to the right amounted to about three feet. Probably a second
vehicle left the rails soon after the first; at any rate, one carriage seems
to have struck the arch of the bridge near the right side and another evidently
collided with the masonry on the left. The impact hastened if it did not actually
cause the disaster.
..........As soon as the train came to a stand,
those of the passengers who had escaped rendered every assistance in extricating
those who were buried in the debris. In the meantime medical aid was wired
for, from Quarter Station and in a comparatively short time the following
doctors were at the scene of the disaster :- Drs. R. H. and J. R. Watson,
Adam, Crawford, Steele and Wight of Hamilton; Mason, Dougal, Watt and Petrie
of Strathaven; and Watson of Langside, Glasgow, who was visiting Strathaven,
immediately driving to Quarter on learning of the accident. Later on Dr. Murray
of Hillhead who accompanied Mr. Currer the superintendent of the line was
also in attendance.
...........The following is a list of the killed
and injured:
KILLED
......John Miller Wilson Jackson
aged 37 of West Quarter House, Glassford. He was a JP for Lanarkshire and
proprietor of Hall hill and Tarbrax. He was unmarried and resided at Edinburgh.
He was out on a business visit with Mr. Watson, engineer, Cadzow Colliery
who had his leg broken and was returning to Edinburgh.
......Mrs. Brownlie aged 63, widow of James Brownlie,
butcher, Bilbao Street, Strathaven. She was on her way to Hamilton to spend
Christmas with her daughter, wife of Mr. Nicholson, grocer, Low-waters, Hamilton.
......William Swanson aged 35, guard of 1 Flemington
Street, Strathaven. His wife and two children were in the train and escaped
unhurt.
INJURED
Agnes Andrew about 20 residing with her parents in Waterside
Street, Strathaven - Fracture of the skull and of a leg; conveyed to Glasgow
Royal Infirmary in ambulance.
Mrs. Edminston about 50, wife of a farm servant residing at 21 Castle Street,
Strathaven, bruised about the back and suffering from shock; conveyed to Glasgow
Royal Infirmary by ambulance.
Andrew Watson, mining engineer, Cadzow, residing at 10 Kew Terrace, Kelvinside,
Glasgow. - Fracture of left leg and shock; conveyed to Glasgow by special
train.
Haddow Patterson aged 23, tailor of Balgreen, Strathaven. - Sprained ankle
and shock.
Samuel Hyslop aged 28 tailor, residing at Balgreen, Strathaven. - Bruise on
leg and shock.
Marion Stewart aged 24, residing at 38 Waterside Street, Strathaven. - Suffering
from shock.
James Turner aged 57, mason, residing at 10 Union Street, Hamilton. - Bruises
on back, fractured ribs and shock.
John Train aged 40, labourer, of 21 Barrack Street, Hamilton. - Bruises on
head and legs also shock.
William McSporran aged 53, miner of Todshill Street, Strathaven. - Bruises
on back also shock.
James Grainger aged 26, coachman of 11 North Street, Strathaven. - Injured
about face and head.
Gavin Nairn aged 47, labourer, of Limekilnburn. - Fractured collar bone, assisted
home by friends.
James Grant, Sandford, Strathaven. - Sever bruises and shock.
Robert Glance, postman, of Chapelton - Wounded on scalp and face and fingers
cut.
..........Before the arrival of
the medical gentlemen, about twenty minutes to five, the injured and dead
had all been extricated and removed to the station waiting room and the stationmaster's
house, on ambulance stretchers sent from Quarter Colliery by Mr. Munro, the
manager. It was dark before the bodies of Mr. Jackson and the guard Swanson
were removed. Both were completely hidden in the wreckage. Mr. Jackson had
been all but decapitated and Swanson's body had been so terribly crushed that
scarcely a bone remained unbroken. A pathetic incident in connection with
Swanson's death was that his wife was a passenger in the train from Strathaven
to Hamilton. She was among the uninjured and she waited in painful distraction
while the wreckage was being searched in the flicker of the wood fires. On
learning the fate of her husband she swooned and had to be assisted from the
scene.
..........By shortly after five o'clock as many
as ten doctors had arrived and the injured had thus ample medical assistance
and among those who gave kindly attention was Rev George Blair of Quarter.
On the advice of the doctors the young woman Agnes Andrew and Mrs. Edmiston
both from Strathaven were sent to Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the Hamilton
ambulance wagon. They also advised that Mr. Andrew Watson should be sent to
Glasgow Royal Infirmary but he insisted upon being taken home to Kew Terrace,
Glasgow and he was dispatched by special train, Dr Crawford accompanying him.
Ambulance wagons were also present from Motherwell and Bothwell and they were
utilised for conveying the injured to their homes.
..........News of the disaster spread with wonderful
rapidity and in the adjacent villages of Quarter, Glassford and Strathaven
in which many of the passengers had friends great consternation and anxiety
were excited. Crowds hurried over fields and along stony permanent way to
the scene. Huge bonfires fed by the wreckage shed a ruddy glow, despite the
dismal character of the evening and the surroundings and by their light the
terrible havoc wrought by the accident was dimly visible. Splintered wood
all that remained of the framework of two large carriages was strewn all over
the cutting, a carriage roof almost entire lay upside down across the rails
and above it was half of a bogey with wheels uppermost.
Mr. Thomson the station master at Quarter Road wrote afterwards, Permit me
through the columns of your esteemed paper to convey to Mr. Munro, manager,
Quarter Colliery and also many of Colin Dunlop & Coy.'s employees residing
in Quarter my sincere thanks for the very kind assistance given me last Saturday
afternoon at the wreck of the unfortunate 3.15 passenger train. Also to the
Rev. Mr. Blair, minister of Quarter who assisted so ably both the suffering
and myself which owing to my responsible position was most gladly received
and will not soon be forgotten. Mrs. Thomson also wishes to thank Mrs. Blair
and lady friends for the sympathy shown her both during the reception of the
wounded and after all were removed. Friends in need are friends indeed.
..........The Rev. Mr. Blair while altogether
silent regarding his own service states that perhaps more than anyone else
he is better able to speak of the great kindness and skill shown by Mr. Munro
and the Quarter men, by the railway inspectors , by the doctors and by Mr.
and Mrs. Thomson at the Station House. He desires that the self sacrificing
labours of those persons should be emphatically recorded.
..........It was also reported and almost too
humiliating to record the disgraceful fact that one at least of the victims
of the disaster was actually robbed by some miscreant of all moneys and valuables
but the dastardly deed nevertheless occurred and although the police made
an apprehension in connection with the affair they have unfortunately not
been successful in obtaining sufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution.
