Chapel-en-le-Frith rail group unveils new platform art and tribute to train crash victims

On Monday, October 24, the Friends of Chapel Station welcomed special guests for a ceremony celebrating the new artworks and information board.

Six ‘Welcome to Chapel’ signs were created by Stockport digital artist Eamonn Murphy, who has produced around 70 images of local landmarks for stations along the Buxton and Crewe lines into Manchester.

Alongside it is a restored wagon buffer from the 1957 train crash at the station, and a board telling the story of how it claimed two lives.

Friends chairman John Brook said: “The success of these projects was the result of a hugely collaborative team effort and is perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of reaching this point.

“It demonstrates how much a small group, and the local community, can achieve by all pulling together, and the generosity of local people, the parish council, organisations, and firms in giving their time and financial support.”

The display board includes photos of the aftermath from the crash, which claimed the lives of train guard John Creamer and driver John Axon, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his actions.

On the morning of February 9, 1957, the brakes failed on a freight train of 33 loaded wagons ran as it approached a steep downhill stretch above Chapel.

Running out of control, Axon ordered his fireman off the train but stayed on board to try and slow its momentum and warn the signalman of the impending catastrophe.

His efforts could not prevent the train from crashing into the rear of another freight train passing through Chapel station at the time, also killing Creamer, the guard on that train.

The buffer was attached to one of the many wooden-bodied wagons involved in the crash, and recovered from a patch of undergrowth near the present-day signal box around 2010.

The restoration project received financial contributions from Chapel Parish Council, High Peak and Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership, Northern Trains and Network Rail, and a private donation from local councillors Kath and Chris Sizeland. The exhibit and this information board were designed, prepared and installed by Leander Architectural.

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