Flying Scotsman derailed by striking miners at Cramlington in 1926

But can the 1926 General Strike – the only general strike in British history – be regarded as normal circumstances?

The most momentous event during the nine-day strike occurred in the North East and left the Flying Scotsman, with 281 people onboard, lying on its side beside the damaged track.

"Narrow escape from disaster of crowded train," said The Northern Echo's headline of May 11, 1926. The story said incredulously: "It appears to have been a deliberate attempt to wreck the train."

The engine - The Merry Hampton (named after a Derby winner) - being lifted on to the track. Courtesy of Brian Godfrey

The General Strike started at a minute to midnight on May 3, 1926. On May 4, 1.75m workers were called out by the TUC General Council and over the next few days, they were joined by millions as the country ground to a halt – there were about five million union members in those days.

"Despite Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill overseeing the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, he could muster, at most, 250,00 strike breakers who, not having worked in industry (many had never worked at all), were more of a hindrance than a help, especially as most of the strikers were vital, skilled workers," says playwright Ed Waugh, who has called a public meeting for later this month to discuss the derailment and plan for its 100th anniversary.

This looks like a trophy picture taken with the wrecked train in the background

The derailment happened on March 10, 1926, seven days into the nine-day strike. The slogan of the strikers was "not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay" as, with the country sliding towards the Great Depression, workers were having their pay cut and their hours extended – if they were lucky enough to keep their jobs.

Ed says: "It wasn't just the miners who faced swingeing wage cuts and longer hours in the "national interest" as the British economy wilted in the face of higher investment by competing nations. Others affected included engineers, railway workers, dockers and practically every section of the working class."

The trains on the mainline were being crewed by volunteer strikebreakers – although strikers would have far more uncomplimentary names for them – and at Cramlington, striking miners decided to ensure that nothing could move by uncoupling a rail.

"Their intention was to derail a blackleg coal train that they felt was undermining the strike," explains Ed.

Robson Green, whose grandfather spoke at a miners' meeting immediately before the 1926 derailment

Their actions came immediately after William Golightly, a mining union spokesperson and actor Robson Green's maternal grandfather, had addressed a strike meeting of miners at West Colliery in the then Northumberland mining village.

"Golightly praised the community for their determination and solidarity in the strike but called for "no wheels to turn",” says Ed. "Unfortunately for the perpetrators, they accidentally derailed a passenger train, the carriages of which were part of the Flying Scotsman being pulled by the Merry Hampton engine.”

Playwright Ed Waugh

According to the Echo, a track inspector spotted the men at work and rushed northwards along the track to warn the approaching 10am Edinburgh to King's Cross express that there might be trouble ahead. The train halved its speed from 40mph.

"It is stated that the passengers on the train were warned to pull down the blinds. . . as a protection against stone throwing," said the Echo, which carried on printing throughout the strike. The journalists felt they needed to disseminate information; strikers felt they were stooges of the government, and there were riots in Priestgate, Darlington, as pickets tried to prevent the morning newspapers leaving the presshall. Baton charges by police broke up the pickets and allowed the papers out, but delivery vans across the coalfield were stoned and even burned out.

The wrecked Flying Scotsman

At Cramlington, the strikers had removed the bolts and fishplates which held a section of the track in place. The train driver saw the damaged rail and braked – but couldn't stop. The Flying Scotsman ploughed on for 60 yards before toppling into a signal cabin.

"It left the metals and overturned," said the Echo. "The engine was damaged and the goods cars wrecked, and only the fact that the passenger coaches were not attached direct to the tender prevented serious injury and probably loss of life."

One man – Arthur Hamilton, a government official from London – "was crushed in a partially wrecked coach", according to the Echo, although other sources say he sustained only a minor injury to his foot. The rest of the 280 passengers were unharmed – except by a large crowd of women and men who jeered them as they stood lineside waiting for buses and taxis to take them onto Newcastle.

The police investigation into the incident was initially met by a wall of silence, but once they charged one miner with with-holding information, others began talking and, a month-and-a-half later, eight appeared in court, claiming they were just bit-part players.

The Merry Hampton is put back on the tracks

Justice Robert Wright, from South Shields who had stood unsuccessfully in the 1923 General Election as the Liberal candidate in Darlington, accepted that more than the eight had been involved, but he said it was only good fortune which had prevented fatalities and "many serious maimings and disablements for life".

He told the defendants, who were aged between 21 and 27: "How young men like you, well behaved and respectable, could carry out so nefarious a scheme is beyond my comprehension."

Arthur Wilson was sentenced to eight years in prison, but here he is arriving home in Cramlington after serving three and a half years. Picture courtesy of Samantha Armstrong

Three were sentenced to eight years' hard labour, two got six and three got four – sentences so harsh that their womenfolk passed out in the gallery. They were eventually released early due to pressure from the trade union rank and file, politicians and even the judiciary who agreed with the womenfolk.

With the centenary of Britain's only General Strike approaching, Ed will host two public meetings on Thursday, March 30, and is appealing for anyone with any interest in the subject to come along. He will be joined by historian Marie Dooley and North East actor/folk singer Jamie Brown, and already more than 100 tickets have been booked.

Ed, whose latest play was the hugely successful Wor Bella about an early female footballer, says: "Were the Cramlington Train Wreckers terrorists or workers trying to defend their livelihoods, family and community against an economic onslaught that actually took place after the General Strike ended?

"Who were the biggest terrorists: the half a dozen hugely wealthy mine owners who, with the stroke of a pen, made 800,000 British miners redundant or those on the receiving end of such an action who were trying to defend their livelihoods and communities from ravaging poverty?

"Just as Margaret Thatcher called Nelson Mandela a "terrorist" for his support of acts of individual terrorism against a racist, apartheid state, those miners involved in the derailment can, and did, cite that they were fighting against a situation whereby mine owners had imposed savage wage cuts."

The Flying Scotsman derailed at Cramlington in 1926

Bill Muckle, leader of the "Wreckers", explained in his book No Regrets: "We were fighting for our daily bread. We were slaves...on starvation money but they came for a 40 per cent cut in our wages.

"My only regret was we derailed a passenger train with 281 people aboard. We were thankful nobody was killed but it was a general strike and there were blacklegs running trains."

Two days after the derailment, with the government trying to assert its authority and the TUC appearing to be worried by the revolutionary forces it had unleashed, the general strike came to an end – although the miners, who had seen their weekly wages cut from £6 to £3 18s in seven years, remained out until November.

"The General Strike was sold out by the General Council of the TUC who, after nine days and with the strike growing in strength, surrendered unconditionally fearing the potential of a revolution, as had happened in Russia nine years earlier,” says Ed. “The miners were left to fight alone for seven months. Poverty, hunger and homelessness ravaged mining communities as the bosses indulged in a "carnival of reaction".

"The story of the Cramlington Train Wreckers is one of high dramatic tension and has become an important part of British history, although largely forgotten today. With the centenary approaching it is important to assess the events in an informed, dramatic and entertaining manner.

"We know of relatives and people with an interest in this subject and we'd be particularly interested in any memorabilia for a forthcoming exhibition."

• The Cramlington Train Wreckers' meetings take place at The Hub, Manor Walks Shopping Centre, Cramlington, on Thursday, March 30, at 2pm and 6.30pm. Tickets are £2 and need to be booked via Eventbrite – go to the Eventbrite website and put “Cramlington train wreckers” in the search box. Any groups or organisations interested in hearing Ed talk about the Cramlington Train Wreckers can contact him via his website, wisecrackproductions.co.uk