It was a moment forever etched into the consciousness of a

nation, when 63 years ago, on Sunday, September 1, 1957, the Kendal train wreck

became the worst transport tragedy in Jamaica’s modern history.

For many reasons, it’s a day many Jamaicans would never

forget as the island, on the cusp of independence, ushered in the last weekend

of summer 1957.

Like other days, it was a sunny Saturday, August 31, as

hundreds of Jamaicans descended onto the Kingston Railway Station downtown, ahead

of an all-day excursion to Montego Bay. The expedition, led by Rev. Father

Charles Eberle, was for parishioners at the Holy Name Society of St. Anne’s Roman

Catholic Church, according to archives from the National Library of Jamaica

(NLJ).

The widely publicised trip went ahead without glitches;

however, it was on the return trip that catastrophe struck.

En route back to Kingston, the overladen wooden train – with

12 coaches in tow and some 1,600 people on board – met into difficulties on its

approach to the sleeping town of Kendal, Manchester.

The trains, managed by the Jamaica Government Railway, were

kept in poor condition. There were two faults at root of the crash: a closure

of an angled wheel (brake) cock, and overcrowding.

The ill-fated train was doomed from the moment it left

Montego Bay.

“Barrelling through the night at full-speed over rough

terrain, the rattling locomotive approached a bend in the rails near the town

of Kendal, Manchester. At around 11:10pm, several hundred yards from the main

road to Balaclava, three train whistle blasts signalled disaster – the driver

had lost control of the train,” the NLJ worte.

Several thunderous crashes echoed into the night, peppered

with the screams and cries of those injured, as the passenger cars all came

loose from the engine. The now-derailed coaches tumbled haplessly into the

gully in a pile on the side of the track.

The Sunday morning dawned on a horrific scene: dozens of Jamaican

bodies lay strewn across the Manchester countryside.

“Some had died on impact, while many were critically injured

– impaled by the twisted metal and wooden fragments. There are many heart

wrenching accounts of survivors searching for their loved ones among the

carnage while looters brazenly stole the possessions of the dead and dying,”

the NLJ further wrote.

In the days following the accident, survivors combed through

the wreckage calling out for their loved ones—the stench of death and suffering

filled the air, as Jamaica mourned.

The official death toll was reported at 187, but the situation

for the 700 that lived through the Kendal train crash grew direr still as hospitals

at Spauldings and May Pen were filled to overflowing. Overwhelmed medical staff

made appeals for volunteers and blood donations from the public.

“Many [dead] were later buried in a mass grave near the

crash site. The Friday of that week (September 8, 1957) was observed as a

National Day of Mourning as world leaders sent messages of condolence and sympathy

to the Jamaican people,” the NLJ indicated.

Amid allegations the train had been tampered with, an

all-encompassing Railway Commission of Enquiry was called, which placed the

blame solely at the feet of bad governance.

Still, despite the findings of the enquiry, research shows

that it was the overcrowding of the coaches that had the greatest impact on the

widespread carnage at Kendal.

“Additional coaches had been added to accommodate the large

numbers of passengers to whom the church had sold tickets. There were too many

people aboard the train,” the NLJ remarked further.

The disaster was the beginning of the end of Jamaica’s trust

in the railway network, and public confidence dropped considerably, even as all

wooden coaches were replaced with studier metal fittings.