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Survivors and spectators picking their way through and around the wreckage
September 1, 1957 represents a fateful date in the history of the Jamaica Railway Department. On that date at approximately 11:30 p.m., a train carrying some one thousand, six hundred (1600) excursionists derailed its tracks killing almost 200 persons and injuring about 500 others.
The day started out on a good note with members of the Holy Name Society of St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in Kingston, in addition to the usual freeloaders, being transported to Montego Bay where they had a big meeting and picnic. On the way back to Kingston that night many were to realize that they were experiencing their last train ride. Reports indicate that the return trip was rather chaotic with bad behaviour being displayed by some who were on board the train. One Ainsley McKenzie who survived the crash recalled that persons "switched the lights on and off and fiddled with the cords." Others indicate, " that some persons walked up and down the coaches drinking, cursing and making noise."
It is said that the train was coming to a big bend in the line at considerable speed, when there was a 'terrific jolting and swaying likened to an earthquake'. The driver shouted 'We dead now! We dead now!' He made three blasts of the whistle to indicate that something was wrong before he inevitably lost control. Eight of the twelve coaches were completely wrecked - one of the coaches, its superstructure razed to the flooring, remained on the lines and ran for about a hundred yards; of the remainder, five toppled into a gully beside the track, two remained in the cutting, one mounted its bank, the other being raised up so that its body came off the undercarriage and the front wheels were lifted off the line. The last two coaches remained undamaged. Most of the passengers of the four rear coaches escaped unharmed but for shock and minor injuries such as cuts and bruises. The remaining coaches were in utter shambles, with dead and injured inside and underneath them, survivors screaming, calling for help or crying the names of relatives or friends. It is claimed that vultures in the form of thieves could be seen going through pockets and removing jewellery from the dead bodies. An injured old man was reported to have said, 'Wait nuh, me no dead yet', as they tried to take his watch.
The Railway Commission of Enquiry that investigated the accident attributed it to a number of causes, not excluding mismanagement and negligence by a number of top officers. According to the Commission the immediate cause of the wreck was the accidental closure of an angle (brake) cock, which had been placed incorrectly. The Commissioners emphasized the fact that the general standard of brake equipment maintenance on the train was unsatisfactory. This called into question the integrity and honesty of the Acting General Manager, Mr. Magnus and his assistant. The Report submitted could not have been more blunt: "Mr. Magnus the Acting General Manager has shown by his conduct in procuring a false brake certificate, that he lacks the integrity which one must expect of an officer occupying that position…" It was also stated that the driver had been going too fast but that could have been attributed to the fact that the brakes were not in good working condition in the first place. In addition, the Report indicated that overcrowding was also a problem on the train, as each coach should have been carrying a maximum of eighty persons yet there were up to one hundred and thirty persons in some.
In 2001, a monument in the form of a cenotaph was erected at a new cemetery (La Caridad) in Spanish Town. Inscribed in the monument are the names of the victims who had suffered that terrible fate on the night of September 1, 1957.
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