Lewisham Train Crash 1957 (Original)

Artist: John Keay
Medium: Watercolour on Board
Size: 7" x 7" (190mm x 185mm)
Date: 1978
Code: KeayCrash

This is the unique original Watercolour painting by John Keay.

Tragedy of the Missed Signal. The driver slammed on his emergency vacuum brake, but the train's impetus thrust it 125 metres beyond the signal where it struck a ten coach electric train which had been halted by another signal.

The impact crushed two of the stationary train's coaches and derailed the steam locomotive's tender and leading coach. These crashed into a steel column that was supporting a steel lattice bridge on which ran other tracks.

With a deafening crash, 350 tons of the bridge's girders and deck fell on the wrecked train below.

Original artwork for the illustration on p2 of Look and Learn issue no, 867 (26 August 1978).

• Artist Biography
  John R Keay; UK
  Artist who contributed to the 'This Made Headlines' and 'Dateline' series which appeared on the inside front cover of Look and Learn in the late 1970s.
  
  Keay had a highly distinctive style, achieving an unusual smoothness of texture in his illustrations, both in colour and black and white. He usually signed his pictures “Keay”. Keay was represented by John Martin & Artists and also illustrated books, including Kings of Israel by David Kent (1981).
  
  John Keay is not to be mistaken for Jack Keay (qv) who also contributed to Look and Learn.