The day a runaway train hurtled down a Greater Manchester street - smashing through houses as people slept

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Residents of a street in Greater Manchester had an incredibly lucky escape when a train crashed through their houses in the early hours of the morning.

The accident happened on February 8, 1961, in High Barn Street, Royton, in Oldham. At 6.12am, a runaway diesel train smashed through station buffers, sending it hurtling through a wall and across a street before crashing through three houses while their occupants slept upstairs.

In one house a couple in bed were carried through the rooms of their own home on the roof of the train. In another, a woman plunged through her bedroom floor. READ MORE: The rise of Eastlands - from 'barren wasteland' to Manchester powerhouse READ MORE: ITV Watching cast now - from Hollywood fame to quitting acting The Manchester Evening News reported Mrs Alice Greenwood, 63, who lived at number 11, was sent crashing through the floor of her bedroom.

She was standing in a narrow passage between the only remaining wall and a pile of rubble when neighbours found her. Only the front wall of her house had remained standing and she still had to unlock the front door to get out.