Railway Herald
This location will live on in the annals of British Railway History for ever for it was here on 6th January 1968 that AL1 E3009 on the 11.30 Manchester Piccadilly-Euston collided on the barrier operated crossing with a huge Transformer being moved from English Electric Stafford on a 148ft long 32wheeled trailer in total weighing 162 tons for storage at the adjacent Hixon Airfield. Tragically 11 people lost their lives and the loco was written off. No. 390009 'Treaty of Union' passes the exact spot on 10.35 Manchester Piccadilly-Euston on 27th September 2011. Of further interest are the 4 fuselages and wings from 'Hercules' aircraft which can be seen above the train as Hixon Airfield is still used by Abnormal Load Engineering, succesor of Robt.Wynn&Sons, who were primarily held responsible for the accident, for storage. The crossing was replaced by an overbridge in 2002.
Geoffrey Dingle
