- £375.00
GRANTHAM 1906. A badly charred and repaired cover to Hull that was on the East Coast Mail train to Edinburgh that left Kings Cross at 8.45 p.m. on 19th September 1906. At 11 p.m. the train should have made a scheduled stop at Grantham but failed to do so, passing through the station at 60 m.p.h. A very short time after a noise like an explosion was heard and flames lit the night sky when the train derailed where the points were set at a curve for the Nottingham Branch Line. The driver and fireman were killed along with 11 passengers and a postal sorter. Very few items are known from this crash and recovered mail shows signs of both fire and water damage. This cover has a ½d and 1d cancelled LONDON 7.45 p.m. 19 SEP 06. A LATE FEE PAID h/s accounts for the extra ½d. Badly charred, it has Officially Resealed labels at the top. One cover is known with an explanatory label, a couple with a GRANTHAM / RLY ACCIDENT, two with m/s endorsements and a few with no explanatory markings, as is this one. A rare cover from this incident.
