Here is a story from the family annals.  I heard about this many years ago when I lived with my uncle and aunt up in Edinburgh but, like most young people, didn't take in the details.

Granddaughter honours Quintinshill crash survivor

My Cousin Heather (left)

WHEN the call came Alexander Thomson didn’t hesitate. The young miner from the West Lothian village of Torphichen downed tools, said goodbye to his family and travelled into Edinburgh and then to Leith to sign up with the 7th Royal Scots.

Just weeks later the 17-year-old and 497 of his fellow troops, full of excitement at what might lie ahead at Gallipoli where they would do their bit for King and country in the Great War, left Leith’s Dalmeny Street drill hall for Larbert station and a train to Liverpool.

He almost never made it. Two hundred and 16 of his fellow soldiers didn’t. They were killed in the worst rail disaster Britain has ever seen at the isolated spot of Quintinshill near Gretna. A further 226 were injured.

For the rest of this fascinating story see: 

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/granddaughter-honours-quintinshill-crash-survivor-1-3780554