IN PICTURES: When two train crashes in 1961 rocked south Essex

Both incidents took place close to Pitsea railway station, with the first occurring on April 18, 1961.

The 12.25pm service from Fenchurch Street to Shoebury, pulling 11 carriages and carrying close to 150 passengers, derailed as it approached Pitsea.

Travelling at about 20mph at the time, the steam engine toppled on its side and came to a rest on a steep wooded embankment.

Heroes of the community - helpers and emergency crews gather on the line to try to help the injured passengers

Police, firefighters, civil defence workers, railwaymen and locals living nearby were quick to the scene and worked to free passengers trapped in the wreckage.

Many of the passengers who managed to clamber out of the carriages were left with “badly-gashed limbs” while others spoke of their miraculous escape.

Rescued - an elderly male passenger gives the thumbs up sign as he is treated for facial injuries at the scene

Shoebury-based engine driver Sydney Fisher, 61, had been travelling as a passenger while on his way home from work and died instantly following the crash.

Fellow passenger Robert Salmons, 59, died a short time later while undergoing emergency surgery in hospital.

Rescue mission - emergency crews battle to cut people out of the wreckage

More than 40 others were left with injuries. The most seriously affected, nearly all of whom had been travelling in the first three coaches, were relayed to Southend, Billericay and Orsett hospitals for treatment.

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Frantic - cutting through the wrecked carriages in a bid to save lives

A later investigation into the disaster found the cause was down to human error.

Derailed - one of the train compartments on its side

Just over three months later, on July 30, mayhem struck again when another train crash occurred.

It involved the 10.05am service from Tilbury to Thorpe Bay after a lorry driver collided with a steam train on the Marsh Road level crossing at Pitsea.

Carnage - the scene was one of chaos and bloodshed

It resulted in the death of Alfred Pound, who had been at the wheel of the seven-tonne lorry, and an elderly female pedestrian was left seriously injured.

On impact, the lorry was spun round and its body crushed the sides of the first two coaches as the train ran past.

Miraculously, the coaches were not derailed and there were no passengers in the first two coaches.

Disaster - this photograph shows the aftermath of the train crash which took place in Colchester on July 12, 1913

A report later determined the train driver was not at fault as his view of the crossing was impaired by stationary wagons.