Margaret Hutcherson's tremendous book Let No Wheels Turn is an essential read for anyone interested in The Cramlington Train Wreckers.

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Sadly, Margaret, born in October 1943, passed away on November 3, 2021, aged 78, before she was able to see the developing fruits of her hugely important work: an incredible legacy for working-class history. Her historically important book was published in 2006.

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But 13 years earlier, in September 1993, Margaret, then living in Torquay, wrote an article for her local newspaper The Torbay Express and South Devon Echo (8/9/93) explaining her family background in relation to the events of 1926. 

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At the time of the 1926 General Strike, Margaret's grandfather, Grandpa Brierley, was a Cramlington miner and some of his sons had joined him down the pit.

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The Brierleys lived in Nelson Village and the mainline Kings Cross to Edinburgh railway ran along the back of the long rows of terraced houses. Their house, being raised on embankment, meant the upstairs rooms gave vantage points of the passing trains, particularly the daily visit of the Flying Scotsman.

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Margaret's Grandpa Brierley moved to London many years later and when she was a youngster, he would often talk of his life underground and recall how the Cramlington miners had derailed the Flying Scotsman.

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"He gave more than a hint that he and his older sons were also involved in the incident," said Margaret. "He had a wad of newspaper cuttings that he would spread out in front of us grandchildren.

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She continued: "The action was, in fact, an extremely impulsive act by mainly young miners. They were already on a low wage, about seven shillings (35p) for a long shift, and even this was being threatened with a 40 per cent reduction by the mine owners.

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"Their working conditions were foul, wet and cramped with no pithead baths. They would walk home en masse where they de-robed in the scullery and bathed in tin baths."

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Margaret outlined how the call for a General Strike in 1926 progressed, with the railway workers joining the strike, leading to the "all out".  

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"However, as always, some workers did not strike and blackleg coal was being brought to the surface and being shifted by road and rail," she recalled.

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"The drivers were threatened, the lorries stopped and the coal tipped. Even these were eventually protected by police who accompanied the blackleg miners to their work and saw the lorries through the hot spots."

Then came May 10 - seven days into the General Strike -  when miners from the Cramlington area gathered at a union meeting in their institute to hear Bill Golightly, head of the Northumberland miners' union. 

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"He was a powerful speaker and much influenced the young men," she explained. ""Let no wheels turn" was the famous slogan of the day.

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"These young miners were greatly incited. They left the meeting noisily, excitable and in angry mood."

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In Margaret's account, their numbers increased as they shouted that they were going to stop the next coal train by removing a rail from the track to the rear of the village.

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"As they approached the track they spotted six platelayers who under the guidance of a civil engineer, Mr Martin, were going about their work.

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"The miners, now exceeding 50 in number, hurled stones, earth, abuse and yells of "Blackleg!" at the men, who, being hit, beat a hasty retreat."

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At this point, the strikers broke open a platelayer's hut, taking away the necessary tools to complete their task. They removed fishplate bolts and wooden keys from 17 chairs and lifted a 45-foot length of rail out of position, placing it alongside the trackside.

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The engineer, fearing this enraged militancy and anger, ran along the track first to Cramlington Station where he told the station master of the occurrence and proceeded northwards to stop the oncoming train, "which was in fact the Flying Scotsman, hauled by the locomotive Merry Hampton (LNER Class A1, 4-6-2 No 2565)".

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Martin warned the driver and one of the guards to expect a hostile crowd in the area of the platelayer's cabin and then boarded the train.

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"They advised passengers to sit low and away from the windows to avoid the stone throwers," said Margaret.  

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"Shortly after, just south of Cramlington, the coach he [Martin] was travelling in rocked violently, the wheels screeched and there was a dreadful crunching of metal on ballast as the train ploughed to a stop.

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"Mr Martin, two naval officers and another passenger leapt out and initially gave chase to men they had seen running from the scene, but being unsuccessful in the chase returned to the scene of the derailment.

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"The derailed engine had ploughed its way through ballast and travelled about 88 yards, coming to a rest parallel to the up track, its buffers in contact with the northern wall of the signal box." 

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In Margaret's synopsis, she said: "Injuries to persons was amazingly only numbered at two, these being a passenger with an injured foot and a volunteer blackleg fireman who was scalded.  

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"These injuries were attended to by a local doctor and with many suffering shock were quickly transported from the scene to Newcastle by buses and cars to continue their journeys.  

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"Miners wives stood at the trackside and cheered and jeered."

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Margaret revealed how Grandpa Brierley insisted the miners had not known they were to derail the Flying Scotsman and had "only intended to stop the movement of coal trains".

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"An official MoD statement was made and a newsreel made of the aftermath," explained Margaret, "which, however, was banned so as not to give exposure to the miners, who were being hailed as heroes by their union."

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She continued: "It was obvious that at least ten men inexperienced in rail lifting would have been required to move the rail out of position. Arrests were slow in coming.

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 "So slow in fact that on June 2 a question was asked in the House of Commons why a reward was not being offered for information leading to the arrest of the "Wreckers".  Soon after, the police raided many homes in the Cramlington area and nine men were arrested.

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"A few days later they appeared in court.  All the men, in their twenties, worked at the Wrightson pit in West Cramlington.  

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"Another local man [Lisle Waugh] turned King's Evidence against them. All but one of the nine arrested were found guilty on two counts - displacing a railway line and also endangering the lives of the railway passengers. Three were sentenced to eight years, two for six years and three for four years."

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Margaret then mentions Bill Muckle and his autobiography No Regrets.

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"He [Bill] felt there was no room for the well fed, well dressed, rich that kept the working man poor. The de-railing of the Flying Scotsman was not an act of violence, as stated by the press of the day. Only desperate hungry men trying to stop blackleg men working and blackleg coal getting through."

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Margaret concluded by saying how this story may only today take up "a few paragraphs in railway history journals, telling of the turbulent time of labour management relations" but she stressed the de-railing of the Flying Scotsman always will remain as a warning of what decent, ordinary men will do if desperate hungry and angry.

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"Grandpa Brierley always had tears in this eyes when he showed me that wad of newspaper cuttings, remembering those young men and his own fortunate escape."