Merthyr Vale Colliery runaway journey, 1903

On a Saturday afternoon in January 1903 the last full journey of the shift came off the road in No. 1 Pit, Merthyr Vale, and killed two colliers who were walking out along the haulage road.

Cause

A full journey of about twenty trams, without riders, came off the road on the haulage road the men were using to walk out.

What happened

On a Saturday afternoon in January 1903 Isaac Henry Johns and Edward Pring, colliers who worked in the dip, were walking out along the haulage road of No. 1 Pit, Merthyr Vale, when the last full journey of the shift, about twenty trams with no riders, came off the road. The shackler Evan Davies, going to see why the journey had stopped, found four trams off the road about four hundred yards from the straight parting, with one man lying between the fourth and fifth trams and the other close by.

Investigation & inquiry

The coroner R. J. Rhys opened the inquest at Merthyr Vale on the Tuesday, with the inspector Mr Trump and a solicitor for the Miners' Federation present. The shackler said that men travelled out on the same road, that it was not part of his instructions to caution them that a journey was coming, and that he would have warned them had he seen them.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• NMRS dates the incident 31 January 1903 and Welsh Coal Mines 24 January 1903. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The coroner R. J. Rhys opened an inquiry into the deaths of Isaac Henry Johns and Edward Pring, colliers, killed by a journey of trams at No. 1 Merthyr Vale Pit on Saturday afternoon. ¹
• Isaac Henry Johnson, 41, and Edward Pring, 33, of Merthyr Vale were killed on 24 January 1903 by an overturned journey while walking out at the end of the shift. ²
• The full journey of about 20 trams, the last out on that shift, had no riders; four front trams were completely off the road, and the spot was about four hundred yards from the straight parting. ¹
• NMRS dates the incident 31 January 1903 and Welsh Coal Mines 24 January 1903. (disputed) ^1,2

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Haulage (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…Merthyr Vale, and killed two colliers who were walking out along the haulage road.”
• Journey (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “On a Saturday afternoon in January 1903 the last full journey of the shift came off the road in No. 1 Pit, Merthyr Vale, and…”
• Tub (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the cause: “A full journey of about twenty trams, without riders, came off the road on the haulage road the men were…”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Accidents at Merthyr Vale Colliery - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Mining fatalities, 1903 - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026