Train stations across Scotland have fallen silent to remember the three people who died in the Stonehaven train crash a year ago today.
At 9.43am on August 12 2020, a landslip resulting from an intense rainstorm caused a ScotRail train to leave the tracks at Carmont, just south of the Aberdeenshire town.
Driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury lost their lives in the disaster.
Today, to mark the first anniversary, a minute’s silence was held in stations and on services across the country.
Staff at Dundee train station, where the ill-fated service had been due to call a year ago, were among those paying tribute.
A ceremony was also held at Aberdeen railway station.
Two wreaths from LNER were laid at platform 4, where the train left at 6.38am on August 12.
Meanwhile, in Stonehaven, the families of those three men were holding a private ceremony with railway chaplain Dereck Grant, laying wreaths at a new memorial plaque.
Gareth Fowler, a skills and competency manager at LNER, attended the Aberdeen ceremony and said the disaster affected everyone in the railway industry – no matter which company they worked for.
Scotland’s Railway family fell silent at 0943 to remember train driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, who tragically lost their lives in the derailment near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, exactly a year ago today. pic.twitter.com/NxXkNaaASP
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) August 12, 2021
He said: “It’s a cliché in the railway, we always say we’re one big family, and we genuinely are. We look out for each other.
“It doesn’t matter what name is down the side of that train, we’re a railway family and we look out for each other.
“I hope the families take that away with them – through this tragedy, they will be supported by the railway family and we’ll look after them through these difficult times.”
