Railway worker deaths 1940-1960 Wadsley Bridge

[HannahSpaner 10]

Hi,

I'm wondering if someone could point me in the right direction to research some family history?  I've done basic internet searches and got absolutely no where.  Basically, my Great Grandad, Harry Bufton, was a supervisor for LNER at Wadsley Bridge Railway Station.  He was instructed to send men (plate liners I believe) down into Beeley Wood, below a bridge, to clear heavy snow off the tracks as a train was en route to Liverpool.  He sent men down, who placed detonators on the track, but for some reason these failed (possibly deadened by the heavy snow) and they were unaware of the train coming.  We think two, or more likely three men died.  The mens family obviously blamed my grandad, but an enquiry cleared him of any fault.

Timing wise, my dad thinks it must be anytime between 1940-1960.   My dad is sure he once saw a cutting that his dad had kept in a Sheffield Newspaper, but we can find nothing at all online.  Have you any suggestions about where I should start searching next?  Any help would be gratefully received!

 

[gene 10]

You need someone with access to newspaper reports such as on Findmypast. Failing that try to narrow dates down and you would need to go into Sheff Local Studies library to browse old newspapers. 

Or post the query on www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk They are pretty good on there helping with things like that. 

 

 

[hillsbro 32]

Hi HannahSpaner - doing a quick online search of the British Newspaper Archive I found a brief report in the "Coventry Evening Telegraph" of 31 January 1956 which may refer to this accident. Here is a scan. https://i.postimg.cc/3NJnVtPh/111.jpg