In 1981 both men had a class 47 named after them- 47577 Ben Gimbert GC; and 47579 James Nightall GC. The latter is now preserved @ Mid Hants Railway. They were indeed true heroes. Incredibly, their WD 2-8-0 loco was rebuilt, and survived until the late '60s as Longmoor Military Railway no.400, "Guy Williams".
also to mention about “James Nightall GC”, according to the page on the Mid Hants Website, on 1st August 1985, it worked the Royal Train, taking Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip to Great Yarmouth.
@@TheSudrianTerrier653Steam at Longmoor where it worked survived until its closure in late 1969, so it didn’t quite make it unfortunately. It was scrapped after a fusible plug failure if you were curious.
I remember Wildnorwester using this as a basis for one of his stories, "Iron Hero." It's great to finally see it in a short video covering the events and more. I learned a few new things about that incident today thanks to this video. I was surprised to learn that with the amount of buildings that were damaged or destroyed, there were only two human deaths. Nothing short of a miracle. And to know that the munitions were being carried in open wagons, wild.
Met a BR-era Fireman from March sometime in the mid-00s (exhibiting a March inspired OO layout at a Model Railway event, at Bressingham) who'd worked with the Driver in this incident, Mr Gimbert. He said Mr Gimbert kept driving for the rest of his career, but was kept on light duties only, such as shunting.
Had the crew not uncoupled the engine and the lead car from the train, the situation could’ve been much worse. They were true heroes saving Soham from disaster.
That's why the station looks so new when looking it up on street view, it took 80 years to construct a new one 😆, but joke aside, these men were heroes for not running away but having limited the size of the explosion with their actions.
what's still bizzare to me is that someone thought it was a good idea to carry live munitions in open-topped hopper cars behind a steam locomotive. Box cars exist for a reason.
It's interesting how they decided to take it slow and careful when moving out the burning car. I feel like most people, when put in that situation, would just book it at full throttle as soon as they uncoupled to get as far away as possible, but idk, I've never handled a train full of explosives before.
The part I find strange is even knowing that the car was on fire and that they had to get clear of the station they were apparently moving slowly. On one hand I can understand that shocking the load may set off the bombs but I would still think that the raging fire would take precedent and thus require maximum speed to clear the station and town.
Do we know if they wanted to bail from the train after setting it to acelerate out into the open country and simply had no time to bail before the munitions blew up. Or were they willing to drive it out into the open countryside and then decouple it and move away with the locomotive? I know it 's likely the answer to this question is lost to history, and we should be thankfull for people like them who show bravery and cool-headedness in a time of crisis
For sure they would not bail the locomotive, they would drive it out into the open. I like to think they would of tried to save the locomotive from destruction as well but would probably find it impossible to get to the coupling due to the fire, whatever their intensions they certainly put saving the town and railway before their lives and would of known how little time there would be to get away from the wagon once in the open country.
"At home" as in, still in the home country and not on the frontlines or right at where the fighting is, on the homefront more or less. Like how the US is described as the "Home of the Brave, Land of the Free" or the song "I Still Call Australia Home." Not quite literal, and I think it's a play on words in this video intro's case.
This is one of the most inspirational stories in Britain's railway history. Another is John Axon, driver of a freight train in which a broken steam pipe caused a locomotive's brakes to fail at Chapel en le Frith in 1957. Axon's instruction to pin wagon brakes saved the fireman's life, but Axon (posthumously awarded the GC), died attempting to stop the train as the cab filled with scalding steam. An unsung hero was the rear cab driver of a low loader taking a transformer over a level crossing at Hixon in Staffordshire. When the barriers descended and a passenger train approached the driver accelerated to push the transformer clear, placing himself in the path of the train, but there was no time to avoid the collision and eleven people died
@@eggballo4490 I have a book with the story of this in and remembered she was repaired. Just looked up the number on Google and found she was scrapped in 1967 after a transfer to Longmore Military railway where a fusible plug failed.
Fun fact: My PC crashed twice making this video. Always check your files folks
Damm looks like the train tried to destroy your pc too
Hope you didn't lose too much if the edit. Another awesome video to add to the collection. Thanks
Does your pc have a 13th or 14th gen intel processor?
Go Linux...Ubuntu is easy to use.
Also easy to build a Samba server to store all your files.
You should do a parody video about that! Thank you for seeing the video to completion, despite, the derailment.
In 1981 both men had a class 47 named after them- 47577 Ben Gimbert GC; and 47579 James Nightall GC. The latter is now preserved @ Mid Hants Railway.
They were indeed true heroes.
Incredibly, their WD 2-8-0 loco was rebuilt, and survived until the late '60s as Longmoor Military Railway no.400, "Guy Williams".
also to mention about “James Nightall GC”, according to the page on the Mid Hants Website, on 1st August 1985, it worked the Royal Train, taking Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip to Great Yarmouth.
I didn't know that! Not surprising though, as the 2 cl.47s were the prides of Stratford depot..
what happened to 47577?
@@mechamax7919 the class 47? not sure
I believe it was renumbered 47847 later on; not sure if it survives..
And to think the engine was repaired and remained in service until 1967.
Certainly remarkable, an engine blown up, managed to be rebuilt and returned to service, Serving right until the end of steam
@@TheSudrianTerrier653Steam at Longmoor where it worked survived until its closure in late 1969, so it didn’t quite make it unfortunately.
It was scrapped after a fusible plug failure if you were curious.
I remember Wildnorwester using this as a basis for one of his stories, "Iron Hero." It's great to finally see it in a short video covering the events and more. I learned a few new things about that incident today thanks to this video. I was surprised to learn that with the amount of buildings that were damaged or destroyed, there were only two human deaths. Nothing short of a miracle. And to know that the munitions were being carried in open wagons, wild.
Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and uniforms.
To think how many lives those two saves.
RIP
This is one of those stories that I feel flys under the radar, despite the sheer heroism involved.
It is actually mentioned in the book series "Trains in Trouble" vol 2
Congratulations on getting your new railway station, Soham. It's been a long time coming but you have it now. Use it wisely.
Well this is great way to start 4:00 am in the morning!
Respect to these gentlemen 🫡🫡
Met a BR-era Fireman from March sometime in the mid-00s (exhibiting a March inspired OO layout at a Model Railway event, at Bressingham) who'd worked with the Driver in this incident, Mr Gimbert. He said Mr Gimbert kept driving for the rest of his career, but was kept on light duties only, such as shunting.
Had the crew not uncoupled the engine and the lead car from the train, the situation could’ve been much worse. They were true heroes saving Soham from disaster.
WIldnorWester used this as inspiration for one of his stories.
Another friday, another lovely video to come home to. Cheers
Shout out to Sodor the Early Years' episode "Iron Hero" which retold this story.
Nice to hear this story in actual historical context.
I remember that episode.
RIP Eagle :(
I KNEW I recognized this plot from somewhere!
@@Durgon-ManWinston was the one who perished.
Thank you for your sacrifice, Horse in open field.
Fantastic work Train of thought 1:11
The most surprising thing to me is that the engine survived to work at the Longmoor Military Railway
Been waiting for this one for a long time - thanks!
I remember learning about this since Wildnorwester modeled this incident for "Iron Hero" in his Sodor The Early Years series.
This is an honour to the two men who gave their lives to protect others.
What an amazing story
Press F to pay respects to James Nightall, Signalman Bridges (I wonder if that man is related to my family), and that one horse.
that needs to become a movie
That's why the station looks so new when looking it up on street view, it took 80 years to construct a new one 😆, but joke aside, these men were heroes for not running away but having limited the size of the explosion with their actions.
What a fascinating story.
what's still bizzare to me is that someone thought it was a good idea to carry live munitions in open-topped hopper cars behind a steam locomotive. Box cars exist for a reason.
It would be hard to load/unload a van (box car) the open wagons would be loaded using a crane.
As soon as you said munitions train I knew this was going to be a sad story...
Press F to pay respects to Gimbert, Nightall and the Horse
It's interesting how they decided to take it slow and careful when moving out the burning car. I feel like most people, when put in that situation, would just book it at full throttle as soon as they uncoupled to get as far away as possible, but idk, I've never handled a train full of explosives before.
Moving too quickly could have knocked them about and caused the explosion to happen sooner. Rail travel is not smooth, after all.
The part I find strange is even knowing that the car was on fire and that they had to get clear of the station they were apparently moving slowly. On one hand I can understand that shocking the load may set off the bombs but I would still think that the raging fire would take precedent and thus require maximum speed to clear the station and town.
My paternal grandfather was a shunter in Stratford Marshalling Yard during WWII, unfortunately he was killed by a German Bombing Raid in early WWII
Lucky that the shrapnel that peppered the other ammunition wagons didn't ignite those wagons or directly detonate their ammunition.
Sounds like a perfect recipe for a Thomas character with PTSD.
Not all heroes wear capes.
I can think of another train that nearly destroyed an entire town in 2013.
Henry the Freight Engine became Henry the Bomb Train.
I was wondering if you could make a video about the steam engines of the Mount Washington cog rail way?
Reminds me of the Krylbo blast of '43.
War, war never changes
Those were brave, selfless men. Who today would have done what they did?
Morning folks🤗
Do we know if they wanted to bail from the train after setting it to acelerate out into the open country and simply had no time to bail before the munitions blew up. Or were they willing to drive it out into the open countryside and then decouple it and move away with the locomotive?
I know it 's likely the answer to this question is lost to history, and we should be thankfull for people like them who show bravery and cool-headedness in a time of crisis
For sure they would not bail the locomotive, they would drive it out into the open. I like to think they would of tried to save the locomotive from destruction as well but would probably find it impossible to get to the coupling due to the fire, whatever their intensions they certainly put saving the town and railway before their lives and would of known how little time there would be to get away from the wagon once in the open country.
What happened to Gimbert afterwards? Did he die of his injuries or continue working?
How do you be at home and drive a train at the same time how does that make any sense
"At home" as in, still in the home country and not on the frontlines or right at where the fighting is, on the homefront more or less. Like how the US is described as the "Home of the Brave, Land of the Free" or the song "I Still Call Australia Home." Not quite literal, and I think it's a play on words in this video intro's case.
being at home was a term in the war for being in england
@@sebforce1165 ok thanks
I'm sure many have noted the similarity of this story to Casey Jones's.
You know someone did something great if they got a BR locomotive named after them.
I have a feeling this will get alot of views
This is one of the most inspirational stories in Britain's railway history. Another is John Axon, driver of a freight train in which a broken steam pipe caused a locomotive's brakes to fail at Chapel en le Frith in 1957. Axon's instruction to pin wagon brakes saved the fireman's life, but Axon (posthumously awarded the GC), died attempting to stop the train as the cab filled with scalding steam. An unsung hero was the rear cab driver of a low loader taking a transformer over a level crossing at Hixon in Staffordshire. When the barriers descended and a passenger train approached the driver accelerated to push the transformer clear, placing himself in the path of the train, but there was no time to avoid the collision and eleven people died
Not all heroes wear camouflage
22,000lbs of explosives... no wonder the truck was disintegrated 😅
If this was that place in the Thomas universe I think my wagons are on fired said the engine everything blows up the end
The engine on the front railway line
Does anyone know the number of that WD engine?
WD Austerity locomotive number 7337. She was repaired and returned to work
@@cedarcam Thanks. I'm assuming she was scrapped in the 1960s.
@@eggballo4490 I have a book with the story of this in and remembered she was repaired. Just looked up the number on Google and found she was scrapped in 1967 after a transfer to Longmore Military railway where a fusible plug failed.
Legendary o7
Another video
Preserve those diesels
23 seconds and 0 views bro fell off
No one cares
🫡Benjamin Gimbert 🫡James Nightall