David was born just off Ellor Street in Ann Place, and attended John Street school, this school had an unusual feature in that the playground was on the roof, I kid you not. 

I have to admit that my book Hanky Park has got a small role to play in this painting because David used the map in the book as a reference point and also the photographs of shops, houses, pubs and other buildings. 

David says that it took about 18 months on and off to complete the painting which is roughly about 5 foot by 3 foot, the detail is incredible with individual streets and buildings easily recognisable. 

On Broad Street, there is Pendleton Church, Pendleton Town Hall, Pendleton Baths, Leaf Square and even the Salford Corporation green buses. 

Ellor Street shows the many shops, pubs, St Pauls Church, Salford Hippodrome and the myriad of back-to-back terraced houses. 

David who is self taught is now looking for a good home for the painting, and has suggested that St Pauls Church on Broadwalk (which was originally Ellor Street) may like it as a reminder of the area. 

Failing that Salford Local History Library would possibly make a good home for it, have any readers got any suggestions? 

If you were from the Hanky Park area, which I was, the painting will bring back many memories for you. 

This article first appeared on SalfordOnline on the 24th September 2012, it is reproduced here by a rather young and dapper looking venerable local historian Tony 'don't mention his bald patch' Flynn.

Video skills courtesy of Jamie Carruthers.

Trevor Palmer told us that the company started in 1979 when a blind Salford resident, Marjorie Husband, was on holiday in Torquay when she heard about the Talking Newspaper movement - it was just starting in various parts of the country. 

She came home to ask: why doesn't Salford have its own Talking Newspaper? 

So discussions began, a committee was elected, and pretty soon the first edition of Salford's own Talking News was produced. 

This first issue was recorded in the back bedroom of a committee member's home in Seedley and was sent out to 20 visually disabled citizens. 

Initially the format was to record on cassette tapes, but thanks to modern technology the format is to record onto MP3 via a memory stick. 

Each week a recording is made of local news and the memory stick is sent to the house of the user, they are given a free speaker unit into which the memory stick is inserted and from that they can listen to the news article of their choice. 

Once the person has listened to the news they simply pop it back into a pouch which is provided and send it back, and I am glad to report that the postal charges are waived because the people are visually impaired. 

Over 250 people a week benefit from this service, and at its peak they supplied over 400 people, but due to advances in medical technology, the number has fallen. 

We are also glad to report that Salford Talking Newspapers For The Blind are going to use selected articles from SalfordOnline.com in the future. 

We were really pleased to report on these people because they do a splendid job, free of charge looking after those less fortunate, and they rarely get a mention for their good deeds, hopefully this video will rectify this. 

This article appeared on SalfordOnline on the 8th February 2013 and is reproduced here with the blessings of Mistery of History, Mr Tony Flynn.

By Tony Flynn With thanks to Keith Byrne 

The case excited enormous public interest with its hints of sexual liaisons, the accusations of corruption against a deeply unpopular police chief, and the continued refusal of condemned men to admit their guilt. 

On Saturday 26 April, wealthy Manchester merchant Thomas Littlewood and his wife returned home to find their house had been burgled. 

Gaining entry through an upstairs window they found a scene of horror in front of them. 

Two servants - Margaret Marsden, 75, and Hannah Partington, just 20 - had been bludgeoned to death with a poker and a cleaver, and were found covered in blood in the kitchen. 

A search of the house revealed that a large amount of money had been stolen, some £160 in notes and silverware. an staggering amount of money in those times. 

Witnesses soon came forward and gave the names of four men, James Ashcroft, 53, his son James, 32, David Ashcroft, 48, brother and uncle to the aforementioned men, and 47-year-old William Holden 47. 

The men were arrested the next day by Joseph Nadin, the Deputy Constable of Manchester. Their rooms, in Silk Street, Salford and St George's Road, Manchester were searched, and cash was found, but although Nadin searched for any bloodied clothing, and pressed the men to disclose where such garments might be, none was ever found beyond a handkerchief with some blood on it, lying beneath David Ashcroft's bed. 

On Monday 28 April the prisoners were taken to the scene of the crime and forced to look at the corpses. Holden in particular was reluctant to do so, and press reports of the time were quick to conclude that he and Hannah had been lovers. 

The men were arrested, charged with the murders of Margaret Marsden and Hannah Partington and sent to Lancaster to for trial on 5 September. 

At the trial, presided over by Sir Richard Richards, a succesion of witnesses testified to seing the Ashcrofts and William Holden leaving the house carrying bundles and they were later spotted in various public houses in Manchester. 

One even said that he saw David Ashcroft with a pile of notes in one hand and silver coins in the other. 

James Jnr and William Holden were seen later in the day in Hanover Street in Manchester betting large amounts (5 shillings a throw) on the toss of a coin. At no time did their demeanour suggest that they had recently, and savagely, murdered anyone. 

Not one witness recalled seeing blood on any of their clothing, which was described in often minute detail, right down to the colour of their handkerchiefs and their boot tops, and yet the perpetrators of the crime would certainly have been stained quite severely, given the very nature of the murders. 

The final prosecution witness was William Collins, a man James Snr had shared a cell with, and to whom he supposedly confessed. 

In the face of this kind of testimony the defence counsel Mr Williams had little to offer. 

Williams called a good number of witnesses, mostly to testify to the character of the men accused, or to place them well away from the scene of the crime, but a great many of the people called had criminal records themselves, and their evidence counted for very little. 

One witness, Adam Halwell, had taken William Collins to prison after his arrest and happened to see him on the day he was released. Halwell asked Collins if Ashcroft had said anything to him about the murders, to which Collins replied that they were 'all as innocent as the child unborn.' 

Cross-examined, Collins denied this. 

Given a chance to speak the men all pleaded innocence. 

Interestingly, both Holden and James Jnr mentioned being taken to see the bodies, and of being so shocked and moved by the sight that they kissed them. This would have been significant, as there was a belief at the time that a corpse would bleed anew at the touch of its killer! 

David made a dramatic plea to the court that the evidence against them had been falsified, that witnesses had lied and that he and the others were innocent. 

By now it was approaching 8pm and the jury retired to consider its verdict. They returned just two minutes later and pronounced that they had found all four men guilty. 

Amid sobbing and screaming from wives and family members all four men loudly protested their innocence, so much so that the judge reprimanded them and the bailiffs and to struggle to regain order. The court finally fell silent as the sentences were passed. 

The men would die in two days time, on Monday 8 September. 

Amid more accusations of corruption, mostly levelled against Joseph Nadin, the men were finally removed from the dock and taken down to the cells below. 

On the day of the execution the area around Hanging Corner outside Lancaster prison was thronged with people. 

One by one the men were brought out onto the scaffold and one by one they reiterated their innocence. 

Finally just before the trap fell they began to sing a hymn: 'I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath' and when, 
some four minutes later all four men were dead, there was said to be "scarcely a tearless eye among the crowd, while many of the women wept aloud". 

Interestingly enough, some 26 years later a man called John Holden, who lived in Atherton, made a death bed confession saying that he had murdered the two women and that innocent men had been hung. 

The truth of the 1817 Pendleton Murders would die with Holden, as he was to pass away the day later.

This article originally appeared on SalfordOnline on the 22nd May 2014, it is reproduced here with the permission of Eccles premier Bingo player, Tony '2 Fat Ladies' Flynn.

Continuing with our history series looking at the events of 25, 50 and 100 years ago in Salford, we came across this quirky story of a pop group from Eccles who were determined to make it big, and in the process make plenty of money to retire as quickly as possible, and why not?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: A Shade of Blues. 

The seven-strong band were formed by local lads, Steve Walton, 19, from Patricroft, John Cunningham, 19, Eccles, John "Dino" Johnson, 17, Eccles, Bill Davies, 15, Peel Green, Graham "Gar" Roberts, 16, Eccles, Peter Collum 18, Eccles, and Bernard "Moz" Morris 18, Patricroft. 

A Shade of Blues are described as "strumming, blowing and beating £500 worth of equipment in numbers sung by John Johnson including, 'Before You Accuse Me' and 'Gonna Cast A Spell'. 

Their music was described as being modelled upon works by "Americans who, if you are not a RnB devotee, you may never have heard of - Howling Wolf, Jimmy Witherspoon and Muddy Waters..." 

The lads formed the group, sorry, blues combo, six weeks and 25 years ago today, and had already played two clubs in Eccles and one in Manchester. 

They spoke of plans to make a test record which they hoped would be their passport to musical fame. 

They would charge £10 a night of which ten shillings was for the band and the rest going towards expenses. 

They boldly declared that their ambition was to make as much money to retire as quickly as possible, so how long would it be before these young men could pack away their equipment and live a life of hedonism in a tax haven? 

Sadly it would appear that A Shade of Blues didn't set the music charts alight and the music history books show no record of them. 

So what happened to these erstwhile musical blues titans, if you were a member of the band please let us know as we would love to hear your story of the pitfalls and pleasures of the life of a blues combo music man.

This story originally appeared on SalfordOnline on the 28th August 2014, it is reproduced here with the kind permission of Sir Tony of Flynn.

The men who descended into the mine immediately after the terrible accident - including a lad of just 16 - Geroge Hindley - would receive the Albert Medal (now replaced by the George Cross) in recognition of their heroism. 

Known locally as Lumn's Colliery, the pit was situated on Lumns Lane in Clifton, a short distance from Clifton Junction Station on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. 

Three main seams - Doe mine, Quarters mine and Trencherbone mine - stretched some 540 yards into the earth. 

This terrible tragedy claimed the lives of 178 men and boys from the local area, but safety at the pit was generally good: there had been nothing of this magnitude in the 50 or so years since the colliery opened. 

Protector lamps - like the kind manufactured in Eccles at the time - were used underground to detect gas, although naked flames were still allowed when the ventilation was "remarkably good". 

At 9.20am on Thursday 18 June 1885, a massive explosion occurred. 

The ground shook for half a mile around while guardrails on two sides of the pit mouth were blown away and the cages which would drop men hundreds of yards into the ground were rendered useless. 

It was thought that around 200 men were underground at the time. As the cages were out of action, Colliery Manager Jonathan Hall, blacksmith William Hindley, and pit man Aaron Manley were winched down the shaft in a kibble [large bucket). 

They saw that the cages had blocked the shaft and could proceed no further. They returned to the surface for a smaller kibble in which Manley, Hindley and Peter Horsfield descended and managed to loosen one of the cages. 

Just then the surface bell rang to indicate that someone was alive down below. 

The kibble was wound to the bottom of the shaft. The scene at the bottom was horrendous with dead bodies, men badly burned and men suffering the effects of "afterdamp" (carbon monoxide poisoning). 

When the cages were working, the rescuers brought up 75 men, including 13 bodies, one of whom was 20-year-old William Reynolds, who would later be buried at Weaste Cemetery. 

The dead men were conveyed to a stable close by and laid out for identification, which in some instances was difficult given the extent of the burning on the bodies. 

The Salford City Reporter said: "There were no extravagant demonstrations of grief, but the subdued sobbing of children, the blank dismay depicted on the faces of the women and the settled melancholy visible in the men, that told how deeply they felt the losses they had sustained". 

Miners working the Doe seam were able to escape by walking along a connecting road to Agecroft Colliery about half a mile away. 

This was a torturous route, flooded in parts and air full of afterdamp sapping their strength. It was said that some men were overcome and fell into the water and drowned. 

Luckily 122 men and boys made it up the Agecroft shaft but nine bodies were recovered including Thomas Worsley, age 28. 

At 4pm another rescue party descended the Clifton Hall shaft to search the Trencherbone seam. 

Suddenly the smoke coming up the shaft changed colour indicating something had happened. 

Communication with them ceased and they feared the worst. Another small rescue party descended, but could only go down 150 yards as a dense volume of gas prevented further progress. 

They noticed that a wall had collapsed before getting back to the surface. 

Fortunately the first group had reached the Doe Seam and were able to make their way to safety via the Agecroft shaft. Some of the injured men and boys (including William Lycett, aged 16), were taken to Salford Hospital or to their homes and some died of their injuries. 

In all, 178 men and boys died in this disaster. 

The disaster victims were buried at many of the local churches and six were buried at Weaste Cemetery. 

On Monday 22 June, William Lycett, 16, of Franchise Street, Pendleton and Thomas Worsley, 28, of Kent Street, Pendleton, were buried in the C of E portion by Rev. H. Gore-Booth, Rector of Sacred Trinity Church. 

William Reynolds, 20, of Jane Lane, Swinton and Thomas Slattery, 34, of Jane Lane, Swinton, were buried in the Catholic portion by Rev Father McIntosh of the Salford Cathedral. 

On Tuesday 23 June, George Hall, aged 42, and his stepson Leonard Charles Barter, aged 13, both of 9, Oldham Street, off Church Street, Pendleton, were buried in the same grave in the C of E portion by Rev WH Stevenson, Curate of Sacred Trinity Church. 

George Hall had previously "seen 21 years service in the army and enjoyed the pension appertaining to the rank of Farrier Sergeant of the 11th Hussars". 

A nine-day inquest opened on 30 June at Pendlebury Mechanics Institute, concluding that the cause was an "explosion of a large amount of inflammable gas emitted from a goaf (old workings) in the Trencherbone mine" which ignited at a lighted candle. 

It added that 159 men found in the Trencherbone mine died from burns, suffocation or injuries; nine died in the road to Agecroft shaft from carbon monoxide suffocation; seven died in their homes due to shock from burns; one man died at home from the effects of carbon monoxide 
poisoning; and two died at Salford Royal Hospital from shock caused by burns. 

Production of coal at Clifton Hall was to end permanently on 9 November 1929. 

Many thanks to the Friends of Salford Cemetries Trust for the valuable help given in writing this story. 

This article originally appeared on SalfordOnline in June 2014 and is reproduced here with permission from bespectacled international man of History and Mystery, Mr Tony Flynn Esq...

On August 27 1964, a lorry containing 3,000 gallons of lubricating oil narrowly avoiding falling onto the busy train lines at Wellington Road in Eccles. 

The drama unfolded when the driver, Roy Burton from Essex, had driven to the area from Stanhope Refinery on the estuary of the River Thames. 

Burton parked his lorry overnight with the rear wheels just yards away from the heavy boundary fence of sleepers alongside the railway line. 

At 11pm the police were informed that the lorry was slipping backwards and was in danger of crashing onto the railway lines below. 

The cargo of oil, had it been ignited, could have caused one of the worst railway disasters in British history. 

All train services were immediately halted and the police were summoned to Mr Burton's lodgings on Wellington Road to tell him of the danger that his lorry and more importantly his cargo was in. 

An emergency operation swung into place with the other vehicles on the car park being moved to safety, two fire engines from Eccles were called and were on standby whilst the police tried to locate a breakdown vehicle large enough to cope with the sliding tanker. 

The potential disaster got worse as the tanker smashed through the heavy boundary fence and was poised precariously above the railway lines some 20 feet below. 

As the agonising search for a breakdown vehicle continued, a brave lorry driver, Don Herd from Leeds, seized the opportunity to bravely manoeuvre his own truck into a nose-on position with the tanker. 

The fire brigade managed to secure a heavy chain and lock the two vehicles together in a bid to stop the lorry and its load crashing onto the railway line below and proceeded to haul them to safety. 

Another driver, Mr Marshall, then climbed into the cab containing the oil and bravely steered the vehicle to safety thus averting what would have been a disaster for Eccles and no doubt for Mr Burton. 

The area of Wellington Road has changed beyond recognition since that day in August 1964 with the arrival of the M602 motorway which opened in November 1971. 

This article originally appeared on SalfordOnline on 27th August 2014, it is reposted here courtesy of its Author, the esteemed and very fashionable Tony of Flynn

The accident occurred without warning at 5.35am on the morning of Tuesday 28 April. 

Locals first noticed a rumbling sound followed by an almighty crash as a railway tunnel which passed underneath Temple Drive collapsed in on itself. 

The 'Black Harry' tunnel was on the Patricroft and Clifton branch of the London and North Western Railway line linking Patricroft with Clifton Junction. 

Two houses - numbers 22 and 24  were swallowed up and the adjacent house number 26 had its end wall sucked into the pit. 

The alarm was raised and at first ambulances arrived with fire brigade and police following swiftly behind them. 

Locals hurried to help sift through the debris however confronting them was a crater,20 feet deep and into it was tipped timber, tiles, brickwork and a section of roof. 

Agnes Williams, the 77-year-old resident of number 26, was lying near the pavement, buried in rubble up to her waist. She was reported as calm and relatively unscathed while three neighbours pulled her clear. 

Her maid, Frances Watson, was then seen standing against the wall of her devastated bedroom, alongside an overturned wardrobe. 

Miraculously, she had survived the collapse and rescuers soon brought her down. 

Sadly the residents of numbers 22 and 24 were not so lucky. 

It was later in the afternoon that the first body was recovered - Fred Potter, aged 87, followed by his wife Clara, 73, and Jean Salt from next door who, at 28, was the youngest victim. 

Sara Salt, 69, and daughter Emily, 45, were found still in their beds, 15 feet below ground level. 

Black Harry had claimed five lives. 

The tunnel collapsed at a point directly beneath an old brick-lined construction shaft, the contents of which fell into the space below, the surrounding soil which was a loose mixture of sand and clay, poured into the hole and formed a large cavity underneath the foundations of the two houses on Temple Drive. 

Work to secure the tunnel got underway the following day. 

Even this was not without incident. Four workers were overcome by diesel fumes after a concentration of gas build-up caused by lighting equipment. 

On 1 May, work came to an abrupt halt after more rumblings were heard, but with ashes packed solidly at either side and timber bulkheads in place, the fall was finally sealed nine days after the roof came in. 

Sadly, it appears the Black Harry disaster could have been prevented, as on 15 April 1953, a labourer noticed some bricks had fallen onto the tracks and that more were peeling from the roof. 

All traffic on nearby roads was stopped to allow repairs, and it was decided to use steel ribs to reinforce the damaged area. Over the next two weeks, further land movements were detected and cracks started to develop. 

Immediate steps were taken to stop rail traffic and arrangements were made to strengthen the tunnel at this point, but before the protective work had been completed, the roof collapsed in the early morning of 28 April. 

Brigadier C A Langley conducted the official inquiry on behalf of the Minister of Transport. He concluded that the failure was in no way attributable to mining subsidence but due to an inherent weakness in the construction of the tunnel. 

When the old shaft was examined, rotting timbers were found amongst the wreckage. 

It was determined that these had been used to brace the shaft when it was filled in after the tunnel was built, and that over time they had corroded, increasing the stress on the walls of the shaft. 

When they gave way, the full load of the shaft was transferred to the tunnel roof. 

The timber exposed by the original fall of brickwork formed part of a frame which supported this shaft. It was slowly being crushed by a 200-tonne column of wet sand perched on top of it. 

This, together with a century of decay, resulted in a massive load being transferred onto the tunnel arch. 

When the timber finally gave way, the brickwork could not withstand the pressure, allowing the contents of the shaft to break through catastrophically a vacuum pulled the houses into the void above. 

Today there is only a collection of garages to mark the spot of this infamous disaster where 22 and 24 Temple Drive once stood. 

This story originally appeared on SalfordOnline on the 12th May 2014 and is reproduced here thanks to Tony Flynn

19-year-old Thomas Kean, who lived on Clarendon Crescent in Eccles was returning home from a night in Manchester city centre, when he spotted a bright light in the sky. 

He told the Eccles Journal: "I dismissed it as unusually bright flash of lightning, [but] I mentioned it to my family when I got in." 

He believed it to be a strange shooting star with what appeared to be sparks coming from it. 

Brushing it off, he retired to bed, but later that morning at around 3.45am Thomas's mother Elizabeth awoke with a start. 

When she went into the bathroom, lo and behold she too saw a strange light in the sky. 

She said: "Looking through the window I saw a bright white light, the stars were much higher in the sky and as I watched the light it appeared to become a red ball, not completely round, but more of an oval shape, and its brightness was going out and then coming back again. 

"It almost disappeared and then came back and grew larger, I thought I was seeing things so I went and woke up my son Frank." 

Frank was roused from his slumbers with the third Kean son Peter, and the family watched the bright flashing object until 4.15am when they traipsed back to bed. 

The newspaper went on to say that while there were no confirmations from officials, reporters believed it might have been a new satellite which had been launched. 

It is worth noting that shortly after midnight there was a storm over Eccles with torrential downpours which reportedly roused many people from their sleep. 

So what do we make of the bright, glowing red ball, possibly oval- or cigar-shaped with sparks coming from it hovering over Eccles? 

The report came at a time when the Cold War and space race between America and Russia was hotting up, paranoia abound, and stories of little green men in flying saucers spying on planet Earth. 

Then again, I could be wrong, and the Kean family really did have a close encounter of their own - what do you think? 

This Story by Tony Flynn originally appeared on Salford Online's old site on 29th August 2014

But did you know that it is also the final resting place of another former Manchester United player? 

I was talking to some friends last week and the conversation turned to football and Eddie Colman. 

This got me thinking of an incident many years ago when I was introduced to an elderly gentleman in the Widows Rest public house in Weaste, who told me that he, too, had played for Manchester United and also had won international caps for Ireland, his name was David Byrne. 

I did some further research and I found David had had quite an interesting career, having played for Shamrock Rovers, Bradford City, Sheffield United and Manchester United. 

David was born in Dublin in April 1905 and played for several teams in Ireland where he won three senior caps for the Irish Free State, making a scoring debut as a Shelbourne player on 20 April 1929 in a 4-0 friendly win against Belgium at Dalymount Park. 

As a Shamrock Rovers player he played against Spain at the same venue on 13 December 1931. 

He joined Shamrock Rovers in the 1926-27 season and rattled in 24 goals. 

His last cap was as a Coleraine player in a World Cup qualifier against Belgium, also at Dalymount, on 25 February 1934. 

He joined Manchester United in September from Shamrock Rovers in 1933 with fellow Irish player Billy Behan  the pair were the club's first Irish players for more than a decade. 

He scored on his debut for on 21 October 1933 and scored a total of three goals in four league appearances for Manchester United, quite an impressive score ratio. 

For reasons unknown David was transferred to Coleraine in Ireland in 1934 finishing his career in 1939 when he played for Shelbourne. 

I have no idea how he came to live in Salford but I was told that he lived in Smyrna Street, Weaste and was a local at the Widows Rest on Cemetery Road. 

You can visit his grave at Weaste Cemetery which would appear to be a family plot, also in the grave are Darren Blackburn who died in 1974 aged just 2 days, and the baby's grandfather Edward Williams. 

David died on 17 May 1990 aged 85 - his grave is now at plot J/941 in Weaste Cemetery. 

It is a well-maintained grave which had on it a small bunch of red and white flowers which I thought was most fitting. 

So if you plan to visit Weaste Cemetery to see Eddie Colman's grave, why not take a few minutes out to take a look at the the final resting place of a man who also proudly wore the famous red shirt of Manchester United.

This original article by Tony Flynn appeared on the old SalfordOnline site on 11th September 2014

Shortly after 8.15am on this Tuesday, two trains full of people on their way to work, collided just beyond the platform on the Manchester side of Eccles Station.

Rescuers, worked by the light of fires built from wrecked coaches, toiled throughout the morning and recovered 16 bodies. Over 80 people were taken to hospital, three dying later.

The trains involved were the 6.53 am from Kenyon Junction to Manchester Exchange and the 6.5 am Workman's Special from Rochdale to Pennington.    

The train from Kenyon had stopped at Eccles to pick up passengers and was moving slowly from the station when the collision occurred.

The Rochdale train ran into it sideways, missing the engine, scraping the first coach and then ploughing through several coaches before striking the embankment and toppling over onto its side.

A number of coaches on the train were wrecked and debris was strewn over the permanent way. Uninjured and slightly injured passengers immediately set about the work of rescue.

They were handicapped by the conditions. Rescuers used wood from wrecked coaches in order to make bonfires to see where the trapped were.

In the meantime, help had arrived and ambulances were kept busy conveying the injured to hospital.    At the outset, pieces of the coaches were used as stretchers and splints. When the casualty service arrived they took control and the injured were quickly transferred to hospital.

Many who were trapped underneath had to wait for special lifting devices and breakdown gangs from Patricroft sheds. Some of the trapped were dead. It was well into the afternoon when rescue work was finally completed. One of the last to be released was a man who was located fairly early after the accident had occurred.

A red-bearded man who was trapped by the legs and in great pain was given sustenance by Councillor E Moore, a member of the Eccles casualty services by crawling under the wreckage.

Dr. G Leslie also gave the man an injection of morphia. The man was released after 4.1/2 hours and lived. He was part of a group of workmen who survived the crash.  

In one instance, a nearby house was converted into a rest centre for those who were badly shaken. The scene shortly after the crash was indescribable. In the pitiful light of the fires men were engaged in stripping coaches to get to those who were trapped.

The injured were being pulled out by the score, receiving first aid treatment on the ground. There was a steady stream of stretcher bearers along the platform and up the station steps to the ambulances which waited at the station approach.

Hundreds of passengers who escaped with bruises and a shaking were standing amongst the wreckage. Doctors in white coats were administering morphia to the badly injured, whilst nurses in their uniforms were to be seen applying bandages and supplying stimulants.    

Shouts of "Doctor here" were frequently heard amongst the din of creaking wood and the hissing of steam from the engine which had overturned. Later the work of rescue was made easier by the light of powerful lamps. A 16 year old member of the Eccles Casualty Service (Dept. 5) was one of the victims. She was of Anson Street, Monton and her body was recovered by a member of the casualty service. Two railway officials from Longsight were also among the dead.    

The driver and fireman of the Kenyon train were also uninjured, but the driver of the Rochdale train and his fireman were detained in hospital. Passengers who had escaped injury and some of the slightly injured, also assisted in the work of rescue, as did the police and many others who were at the scene.    In addition to the local ambulances there were ambulances from several neighbouring districts. The work of removing the injured to Eccles and Patricroft was carried out expeditiously.    

Considerable difficulty was experienced in identifying the women victims, chiefly because they carried their identity cards in their handbags which were lost amongst the wreckage. By the afternoon of the same day practically all the male victims had been identified. When the last of the trapped passengers had been removed, breakdown gangs with cranes set to work clearing the track of the wreckage.

This went on throughout the night. By next morning sufficient progress had been made to permit traffic on certain sections of the track.  

Officials of the L.M.S. Railway Co. visited the scene of the accident prior to instituting an enquiry

This story by Tony Flynn first appeared on the original SalfordOnline website on the 9th January 2003.

This coming June 11th, International Man of History and award winning author Mr Tony Flynn, will be embarking on another of his legendary historical pub walks around Eccles.

Meeting 12 pm at Eccles Train station and finishing at 2 pm outside the Royal Oak pub, learn about murder, mayhem, bodysnatchers, millionaires, arsenic beer, rioting, looting, celebrities, secret tunnels, and thats all in one pub!

Tickets will be just £4 and will involve a drinkypoo in the Lamb, and maybe a half in the Albert Edward. (It's not his round). 

Tony says ...

Quote

 

"We used to have a buffett and quiz in the Royal Oak which had a room available for a brawl if the days entertainment went wrong. We shall have a quiz though in a pub, sadly no buffet so bring yer own butties, no tongue butties for me thanks."

 

Tony needs no introduction as he a Salford legend, his guides to Salford's historical past are essential reading, his history of the pubs of eccles exchanges hands on Amazon for almost £25 per copy, astounding considering Tony only ever sold them for £1.50 (Not taking account the cost of publishing it).

Tony served his sentence as community reporter and history editor at SalfordOnline and has published countless stories of the past, all available to peruse on this link.

This once in a lifetime not to be missed experience is limited to just 20 place, so it's best to get in contact with him on Facebook to let him know you will be coming along for the ride walk.

https://www.facebook.com/tony.flynn.775