Clapham Junction

[CN12]

12 December 1988 accident that changed things on the railway.

35 people lost there lives and no doubt many who still have bad memories.

 

[AndrewP]

Terrible day - remember hearing it on the radio and later working with people involved

 

[Strathclyder]

Was reminded of the anniversary of this terrible accident by posts on the 4-REP thread in recent days. Until seeing those posts, I somehow never knew - or I never twigged it for whatever reason - that a 4-REP was involved. Not like that's really relevent given the lives lost and the accident's lingering effects on those who were there and were involved in the grim rescue/recovery operation.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I and others I know were involved in passenger assistance that morning further down the line, purely as a result of being around on the way to work (as usual), and as it turned out I later learnt of work colleagues who were on both trains, but thankfully survived.
There are times in one's life when it is said that one always remembers where one was/what one was doing - and that morning is one such occasion, when everything is as clear to me today as it was then, but after getting to work in Waterloo around lunchtime, everything afterwards is a complete blank.

A very dark day for all concerned.

 

[Taunton]

Associate of the time worked at Wandsworth Council HQ. A number of staff of course left for the site, but others there were besieged by clamouring journalists, initially by telephone but then in person at the reception, later pushed back by security to outside the door, demanding the casualty figures as if nothing else was important, not accepting Don't Know for an answer and quite getting in the way of events and staff trying to deal with the stressful situation.