It would appear that the accident was one which did not entail a Board of Trade Inquiry, and hence a published report. There is no mention in the Railways Archive accident database (
www.railwaysarchive.co.uk) nor in "19th Century British Railway Accidents" by John Dixon. The latter is regarded as the definitive list of all BoT accident reports published 1840-1900. Likewise there is no mention in J. Alan Wells' "Signals to Danger". Therefore, I assume that the accident was one which the Railway Inspectorate would have classified as an Employment Accident, investigated after 1902 by an Employment Inspector as opposed to an Inspecting Officer, and for which no report would be published, although a report of the investigation would be sent to the employer.
There are several possible sources of information from local newspapers, but the Evening Chronicle will provide no information as it was not founded until 1885. The main local newspaper was, and still is the
Newcastle Journal founded in 1832 and based at Thompson House, Groat Market, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1ED Tel. 0191-232-7500 Fax 0191-232-8869. They will have file copies and might well look out the information you want and forward it to you.
Other local newspapers of the period were (i) the
Newcastle Chronicle 1764-1963 and (ii) the
Gateshead Observer 1837-1886. Tyne and Wear Archives may have copies on microfiche, but copies are held at the British Library Newspaper Library in Colindale, London. Tyne & Wear Archives address is Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4JA Tel 0191-277-2248 Fax 0191-230-2614 (
www.tyneandweararchives.co.uk). They might well have information from other sources and are worth contacting.
A good contact would be with the local coroner for the
City of Newcastle who is based at Bolbec Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1SE. If he has no record, then the other two local coroners with jurisdictions adjoining Newcastle City are (i)
North Tyneside who is based at 3 Stanley Street, Blyth NE24 2BS, and deals with inquests on the north bank of the Tyne outwith the city boundary and (ii)
Gateshead and South Tyneside based at 35 Station Road, Hebburn, Tyne & Wear NE31 1LA and deals with all deaths on the south bank of the Tyne. Bearing in mind that coroners jurisdictions have been rearranged on a number of occasions there is a possibility that the accident occurred in an area covered by a County Durham Coroner, and if this is so, your point of contact would the the North Durham Coroner who is based at Post Office House, Elliott Street, Crook, County Durham DL15 8QH.
Other possible information sources are :-
1
Ken Hoole Study Centre, North Road Station, Darlington, where the North Eastern Railway Association have their archive and library. I've looked through my library list but cannot see any likely sources. However, material arrives on a regular basis and they may well have relevant material which was not noted in my copy of the library list.
2
National Archives (Public Record Office) at Kew. There are a few possibilities in class RAIL 527, the most likely of which I've noted below :
RAIL527/13 Minutes of Directors Meetings 1869-1872
RAIL527/66 Minutes of the Traffic Committee 1871-1874
RAIL527/139 Chairman's Business Book 1871-1873
RAIL527/251 Rough Minutes Book for Board Meetings 1871-1873
There might also be a staff record in existence at Kew, although many of these were lost in a fire at Newcastle (Central) in the 1950's, my own family's records being among those lost.
Another possible source of information might be the Railway Returns to the Board of Trade and the Parliamentray Papers series. Copies of these should be available in the Copyright Deposit Libraries (British Library, National Library of Scotland, Bodleian, Cambridge University etc). I know there is a fairly complete set of Railway Returns in the National Archives for Scotland at West Register House in Edinburgh.
Finally, the National Railway Museum might have information in the documents held in its collection.
If there is anything else you need information on, don't hesitate to get in touch by e-mail (I might just be able to help.
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