December 28th 1906 saw the rail disaster at Elliott Junction, near Arbroath, killing 22.
Snow had caused a signal to droop, indicating the line was clear and a southbound express train, travelling tender-first, ran into a derailed goods train.
A Dundee and Arbroath Railway train was standing at Elliot Junction railway station during a blizzard when it was hit by a North British Railway train.
The Board of Trade Inquiry placed primary responsibility on the driver of one of the trains who had “failed to heed instructions to drive with caution”. It also discussed the role of alcohol and said that “the proximity of the Victoria Bar to the up platform is a very undesirable feature in the surroundings of [Arbroath] station. The substitution of a coffee shop and refreshment room would be greatly in the general interests of the staff”.
Thirteen people were killed instantly on the local train but the death toll increased to 22 with eight injured, one of those injured in the crash was the Liberal Member of Parliament Alexander William Black, who died of his injuries shortly afterwards.
A further fatality was Arbroath footballer David ‘Dev’ Smith Cargill ran from his home in South Street to Elliot junction when word reached the town of a devastating rail disaster.
During his efforts ‘Dev’ was working among ice as well as a boiling hot train which gave him a serious chill and he subsequently died shortly afterwards.
Initially, the driver was arrested and appeared before a sheriff at Dundee charged with being intoxicated and then released on bail, he went on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on March 11th, 1907, on a culpable homicide indictment.
There was no mention of the charge of intoxication.
He was found guilty but due to his unblemished character, the weather and lax infrastructure, he was recommended for the utmost leniency and given five months in prison.