20-05-2025
Falkirk service to mark 110th anniversary of tragic First World War troops' rail journey
The now annual remembrance event on Thursday commemorates the Quintinshill Rail Disaster in 1915
A service to mark the 110th anniversary of the UK's worst rail disaster will be held in Larbert on Thursday morning.
The short service at Larbert railway station will remember the Quintinshill Rail Disaster, and the troops who were on their way to serve in the First World War when their train was involved in a horrific crash that left 214 dead.
On May 22, 1915, the train packed with around 500 soldiers hit a local passenger service before being hit again by an express train, causing intense fires there was no escape from.
As well as the troops who died, nine passengers and three railway employees were also killed, while 246 others were injured.
The accident took place in Quintinshill, near Gretna, and the Royal Scots soldiers on board were mostly from in and around Leith - but they had begun their journey at Larbert railway station.
Baillie Billy Buchanan has pledged that the troops who were killed so tragically more than a century ago will not be forgotten.
He previously campaigned for a plaque to be erected at Larbert Station to mark the local connection to the disaster and now holds an annual memorial service.
The former Provost of Falkirk will join members of the Ancre Somme Charity Scotland to lay wreaths and pay tribute to those who lost their lives.
They will meet at Larbert station, where the train packed with troops set off on that fateful day, at 6.30 am.
Piper Kevin McLean will be in attendance and there will be a two-minute silence at 6.49 am, the time that the crash happened.
