A short re-telling of a local story.
On August 16th 1944, a V-1 ‘doodlebug’ rocket was chased by a Spitfire pilot from Dover. After many unsuccessful attempts to shoot it down, he eventually managed to tip it with his wing, but unfortunately instead of landing in an empty field, the missile landed under the bridge of the railway line at Oak Lane, Upchurch.
It was found that a railway worker sheltering under the bridge was killed instantly. The bridge was totally demolished in the explosion, and unfortunately the 1535 Victoria to Ramsgate was speeding towards it, having just left Rainham. Despite the best efforts of the driver, the train encountered the now demolished bridge. Amazingly the main cab jumped the gap but the tender fell into it and the first few carriages were heavily damaged. In fact the 4th coach ended up straddling the gap completely.
In total 7 passengers lost their lives, they came mainly from the from the front two carriages. Many were severely injured, and were taken to several nearby hospitals. Miraculously the driver and fireman survived.
Being as this was the mainline through to the coast and up to London, after the investigations and clear up were completed, a new bridge was constructed in November 1944 at a cost of £3,800.
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Many thanks – I’ll blog again soon.
Rainham Rail Enthusiast 