By 
‘Death, swift and terrible, looming out of an early morning fog…’
That was how the Ulster Herald described the horror that unfolded in Omagh on November 24, 1950. It was the worst rail accident ever recorded in Tyrone, a tragedy so sudden and devastating that it left families shattered and the entire town plunged into grief.
It had begun like any other working day for a permanent-way maintenance squad repairing track at the northern end of Omagh station. The men were familiar faces on the line, all experienced workers. But shortly after 9.30am, as a thick, muffling fog clung to the rails and platforms, the Derry-to-Belfast passenger train emerged out of the mist and struck the group without warning.
Two of the men were killed instantly. The other three died later in Tyrone County Hospital despite desperate attempts to save them. The disaster remains one of the darkest moments in the town’s history.
Hidden danger
That Friday morning was marked by a dense, drifting fog that hung low across the tracks. Approaching trains from the Derry direction were notoriously quiet under normal conditions, but on this particular day the combination of fog and noise from another shunting engine on line made it almost impossible to hear an oncoming train.
The maintenance squad, led by long-serving ganger Charles Flanagan, had been packing ballast as part of their routine work. Witness testimony later revealed that the men had actually stepped clear of the track after being warned the Derry train was due. For reasons never fully explained, they returned to the line moments before the engine came through the fog.
Station foreman Cecil Walker recalled hearing the sudden screech of brakes behind him. When he turned, he saw the train burst through the fog straight into the men. One of the workers had tried to leap clear, but was caught by the buffer of the engine. Tools lay scattered and broken across the track, stark evidence of how little time the men had to react.
The emergency response was immediate and frantic. Station telephonist Vera Hurst raised the alarm, calling for ambulances and alerting local clergy. A taxi driver, Paddy McCrory, drove priests to the scene so quickly that they were administering Last Rites beneath the very wheels of the halted train.
Doctors McMullan, Tully, Fulton, Mackle and Bradley worked to stabilise the injured, who were carried on stretchers through fog and crowds to waiting ambulances.
But the injuries were catastrophic.
One worker, John McCrory, suffered a compound skull fracture and died within an hour. By that evening, Daniel McCrory had also passed away. Early the next morning, Charles Flanagan succumbed to his injuries. Only one member of the squad, Robert Semphill, survived – he had stepped into a hut moments before the crash.
Families devastated
The five men who died all belonged to well-known local families, and their loss ripped through the community.
Charles Flanagan had devoted 25 years to railway service and was a respected figure among maintenance crews across the region.
John Cleary was the father of three children.
John McCrory had spent three decades on the railway; tragically, his daughter, a nurse travelling home for the weekend, was on the Belfast train halted outside the station because of the accident.
Daniel McCrory, from River Row, was heavily involved in local community organisations.
John Cassidy had arranged to meet his wife for lunch in the town that very day and never made it home.
On the Sunday following the tragedy, Omagh witnessed scenes of mourning unprecedented in decades.
Four coffins were carried from the Sacred Heart Church as St Eugene’s Brass and Reed Band played Chopin’s Funeral March. Representatives of Omagh and Derry fire brigades, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, community groups and hundreds of townspeople formed a cortege that filled George’s Street and High Street.
The funeral procession was so long that the rear of it was still leaving the church grounds when the front reached Campsie.
As our report from the time put it, ‘the whole town stood still’.
Searching for answers
The inquest, reconvened in Omagh after initial post-mortem evidence, drew large crowds including many railway workers. Dr Olive Russell outlined the fatal injuries, confirming that some men had died instantly while others succumbed to catastrophic head trauma and internal bleeding.
Plate-layer William Wilson told the hearing that he had warned the men the Derry train was due, and saw them step clear of the track.
He believed they must have returned to their work immediately before the accident. Station foreman Cecil Walker described the train appearing out of near-zero visibility.
Signalman Hugh Donaghey explained that the Derry service had been brought in by green flag rather than standard signal because another engine was occupying the cabin.
Permanent-way inspector Philip Murphy described Flanagan as a careful and capable ganger who fully understood safety procedures.
After hearing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, attaching no blame to any individual. The coroner remarked that the tragedy was the result of dense fog, masked sound and tragic timing – a fatal convergence of conditions that gave the men no chance.
As Omagh approaches the 75th anniversary of the disaster, it is remembered not only as a rail tragedy but as a moment when everyday working men lost their lives in an instant, leaving families, colleagues and an entire town bereaved.
