Britains Worst Train Disaster at Quintinshill

Britain’s worst train disaster occurs at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green, on May 22, 1915. Involving three trains, the tragedy results in the deaths of 227 people, most of them soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment, en route to fight in World War I.

A troop train collided with a stationary local train that had been improperly left on the main line. Moments later, the northbound express from London plowed into the wreckage, igniting a devastating fire. The accident was caused by signaling errors and negligence, and it remains the deadliest rail crash in British history.