What The Engine Driver Saw
Statement of Samuel Wingrove 10th January 1914
On the 10th January the police interview Samuel Wingrove. He drove the 3.45pm train from Broad Street to Chalk Farm, arriving at 4.09pm. For the return journey he had to detach the engine, take it from the front of the train and attach it to the other end via a circular loop of track at either end of the route. It was a quick job, taking just five minutes, whereupon he set off back to Broad Street at 4.14pm. The train reached Camden Town Station just three minutes later.
He says:
‘I did not notice anything at all unusual at Chalk Farm, or observe any passenger in particular, but when running into Camden Town Station, bunker first, I was looking ahead through the left side window of the cab of the engine, I saw a woman and boy about 4 or 5 years old on the platform, a few yards from the head of the staircase, about opposite where the second coach would be when I brought the train to a standstill.’
Wingrove said he noticed the woman and boy particularly because the boy was pulling towards the train and the woman had hold of his hand, holding him back. He did not see which carriage they got into, but was able to give a brief description.
‘The woman was shabbily dressed in a black hat, and a long grey coat buttoned right down from the neck, it was well worn and tight, and one buttonhole on the breast had dragged. Her age was about 35 to 38. She looked careworn, was rather dark and had a red face, height about 5 foot, or 5 foot 6. The boy was about 4 or 5. He was red or sore under his nose as if from a cold, but I am not sure of his dress. My impression is that he wore a peaked cap.’
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