Scene of the January 1926 train accident at Bethel

Image: © Eric Jones Taken: 10 Mar 2007

For almost ninety years there were no crossing gates or signals on the Dinorwig Quarry line. The only rule was that the train was to slow down to 10mph and blow its whistle within a quarter of a mile from the crossing. Here, on the main Bethel road, on 22 January, 1926, a slow moving paraffin lorry owned by the Vanwil company was hit by the train killing the occupants Thomas Williams 48 and William Williams 19, both of Caernarfon. The train carrying 87 wagons, and manned by two brothers William and Tomos Evans (driver and fireman), dragged the lorry for almost half a mile. At the inquest, held on the next day, the Caernarvonshire coroner, J Pentir Williams,(a cousin of my grandmother), ruled that these were accidental deaths, but recommended that gates and red flag men should henceforth be sited at each crossing. The recommendations were accepted by the Faenol Estate.

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