Community remembers 35 lives lost in Castlecary rail disaster

It is now 86 years since the horrific accident, when 35 people were killed and 179 injured, after two passenger trains collided on the evening of December 10, 1937.

The tragedy happened in a freezing snowstorm when an Edinburgh to Glasgow express hit a late running Dundee train at Castlecary station, in North Lanarkshire.

On Sunday, Provost Robert Bissett and Baillie Billy Buchanan of Falkirk Council joined Albert McBeath, the chairman of Castlecary Community Council.

Mr McBeath spoke of how the community had worked together at the time of the crash and had come together again many years later to create the memorial garden.

At 5pm on Sunday, the remembrance lights in the memorial were lit and a two-minute silence was held to remember all those affected by the tragedy.

Baillie Buchanan, who lives near the site and organised the event, said: “A small crowd turned out on a wet, miserable night although it was nothing like 86 years ago when it was a blizzard of snow.

“The event remembers those who died, those who were injured, those from the Castlecary community and from other areas who rushed through the heavy snow to help.

“We also remember the emergency services who worked tirelessly in terrible conditions to help the dying and the injured.”