From the Archives: Mayo housewife averted train disaster 55 years ago

By Tom Gillespie

LAST July marked the 55th anniversary of when The Connaught Telegraph carried the sensational story of how a housewife averted a train from crashing into the damaged bridge.

And a railway boss praised the then 36-year-old woman for her quick thinking.

Mrs. Mary Gibbons, a mother of four, had dashed up a railway line with the white sheet tied to a broom to alert a speeding train after a truck had crashed into the railway bridge at Ballyvary, near Castlebar.

CIE area manager, Mr. Patrick Ryan, said: “We are very appreciative of Mrs. Gibbons actions and I will call to personally compliment her.”

The crash had twisted the lines over the bridge at Ballyvary and the truck driver told Mrs. Gibbons about it.

Mrs. Gibbons told The Connaught Telegraph: “I had run about 50 yards when the train driver saw the sheet. He applied the brakes and I jumped clear. The train came to a halt right on the twisted lines.

“There was nothing heroic about it. I just happened to be on the spot. I knew the Claremorris/Ballina train was due and did what anyone would have done in similar circumstances.”

Train driver Mr. Hugh Dawson said he braked the train when he saw Mrs. Gibbons waving the white sheet.

He confessed: “That waving certainly saved my life. For if the train had crossed the bridge at normal speed it would have crashed and dropped over 12 feet onto the roadway below.”

Railway traffic was disrupted while repair work was being carried out and special buses from Ballina took passengers to other connections for Dublin and Limerick.

Some time later a new bridge (pictured) was built to replace the damaged one.