Charlie Whiting's Narrow Escape

Late on Saturday 23 June 1906, Blandford was struck by a great storm. It followed a day of extreme heat and the oppressive atmosphere gave a warning of the tempest which was to come. Lasting a couple of hours, the violent storm caused chaos across the Blandford district killing cattle, stripping trees of all leaves and damaging property. That evening, railway signalman Charlie Whiting was on duty in the signal box at Blandford station. He was to suffer a lucky and narrow escape. The Western Gazette reported:

‘Forked sheet and ribbon lightning illuminated a pitch black sky in all directions with scarcely a second’s intermission. Rain tropical in its violence accompanied the tempest while in some places hailstones added to its intensity.’

Because of the unusual shape and size of the hailstones, where they fell not a single greenhouse survived. The 1906 storm was remarkable also for its temperatures, the range being between 55 (13) and 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 centigrade). A tree struck by lightning was split from top to bottom.

Charlie Whiting was the signalman on duty at Blandford station. During Saturday evening, he noticed several of the signal box instruments were behaving in an unusual manner. At around 10.45pm, a particularly vivid lightning flash struck the signal box. The flash was followed by a loud explosion, wires fused and all the windows were blown out by the force of the explosion. According to reports, Charlie Whiting barely had time to escape before the box was burning fiercely. Before the fire was put out the whole of the telephone, telegraph and train tablet apparatus was destroyed. Several of the signal bells were melted into an unrecognisable mass because of the fierceness of the fire. The storm was pretty general across the country but its severity was worst in Dorset, Somerset and Devon. Blandford station’s signal box was so severely damaged it had to be completely rebuilt.

There was another rumoured but unsubstantiated explanation for Charlie Whiting’s fortuitous survival. No further trains were due into Blandford station that evening. So, and this may be an unfair suggestion, it was rumoured that he had slipped out to a local public house for a ‘quick one!’

(Illustration: Blandford Station's signalbox - below)

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