A scene of disaster: 75 years on from the accident that saw three killed in Donegal

Today marks the 75th anniversary of a tragic accident outside of Donegal Town that saw three people lose their lives and left nine others injured.

At 2:15pm on August 29, 1949, Railcar No 17, which had set off from Donegal Town, collided head-on at Hospital Halt at the old Laghy Road Junction, with the CDR Class 4 steam locomotive Owenea, on the single line.

“Railcar 17 had left Donegal bound for Ballyshannon, without the driver being in possession of the staff for the section,” the Irish Railway Factsheet says. “About half a mile from the town, in a leafy cutting, the railcar rammed the steam locomotive, which was hauling a special goods train in the opposite direction.”

The driver of the railcar, Mr James McIntyre, aged 52, of Chapel Street, Ballyshannnon, was killed instantly and two of the injured, Mrs Mary Stevenson (50) of Clarricknagun, Donegal, and Mrs Rebecca Fawcett, Ballinamallard, Co Fermanagh, died shortly afterwards.

“The collision occurred at a blind turn on the railway as the train was emerging from a bridge on the main Donegal-Ballybofey Road,” said The Donegal Democrat, on September 2, 1949. “So great was the force of the impact that the train put the railcar back down the line for a distance of fifty yards, the engine bursting it into a twisted mass of wreckage.

“Poignant scenes were witnessed at the hospital all during Monday afternoon as relatives of the dead and injured arrived. Mr Patrick Mclntyre, Ballyshannon, was on his way to Castlefin when he heard of the accident and visited the scene to find that his brother was killed.

“The townspeople [of Donegal Town] turned out en masse to assist in the removal of the injured, who were attended to by hospital staff. Temporary accommodation was provided in the town in a number of houses for hospital patients who had to be removed to provide beds for the injured.

Timothy McMillin, an eye-witness said: “I was at the hospital gate when I heard the crash. I saw the bus coming from the Donegal station and the train emerging down the line. I was taking Jimmy Gillen who was on the other side of the road. The bus met the train and the bus went up in the air and there were two of three of the passengers thrown out at the bridge.

“I ran down through the hospital grounds and there was a cripple lying on the bed of the track; his wife was laying hurt too. He was unconscious but his wife was not. Gillen and I started to lift the injured. We shouted for help but no one came. Then a boy, Liam McCauley, heard our cries and went to the town where he got all the assistance he could.

“We took the injured to the hospital gate. St Columba, matron of the hospital, and nurse Carlin and Sr Aloysius arrived with Mrs McCauley, Mrs E McMullinm and Miss Margaret Thomas, who all helped take the injured into hospital. A number of priests also came.

“We were looking for the driver for a long time. We came on his feet beside the engine and we had to hack our way through the side of the wreckage and Michael Mlanaghy, Joe McGinley and L McMahon helped. It was 2:15 when the crash occurred and we were working till 3:30.”

Jim Thomas of the National Hotel was on of the first to arrive. He said he received a phone call to get a priest and he commoned Fr E Munder, Canon PB McMullin and Fr Dermott Brotton.

“There were three laid out on the road when I arrived,” Thomas said. “It was a desperate sight.”

Harry Diver, a mechanic at Johnston’s garage, helped carry two women and a man who were lying below the bridge about 40 yards from where the bus came to stop. One of them, D McGinley, a porter from Lagher, was thrown out behind a wagon at the bridge. He was going to Laghey for his dinner.

The inquest on the three victims opened at Donegal Town Hospital the following evening before Dr EF O’Sullivan, coroner, and after the evidence of identification and medical evidence, was adjourned on the application of Mr JH Barry, solicitor for the railway company until the findings of an enquiry by officials of the Department of Industry were made known.

Asked by the coroner as to the condition of those still detained in hospital, Dr Gallagher said two of the patients, Mr and Mrs McClements, were severely injured; two more, Mrs Stewart, Donegal and Mr McGinley, Laghey, were less seriously injured and two children, Malacht and Maundy Daly, Kildoney, were not in a bad condition.

The coroner said that under the circumstances he would agree to an adjournment. He referred to the accident as “having cast a gloom over all in the district.”